Feelings for a Fox
by Mistress of the Sword
Summary: Kagome returns to her life in the future, but when Shippou is put in danger so is the barrier between the worlds. Kurama is selected to protect Kagome while the rest of the YYH group tries to find out who's behind the sudden attack. KK (x-over wYuYu Hak)
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Rest assured if I owned the hotness that is in these series I would not be wasting my time writing fan fiction! This applies to this chapter and the rest as well ok? So no suing!**

**(P.S.: The prologue is kinda important, even though it doesn't seem like it k?)**

Kagome's POV

**Feelings for a Fox**

**Prologue**

So long ago. An eternity it was when I left my son at the shrine and returned to fulfill my duties. I have a number of estates, all over Japan and even a couple in other parts of the world. But now I am finally home, with my family, where I belong. This is where I belong… isn't it?

For them it's been a couple of weeks without me. For me it's been over 500 years without them. I am and yet am not the same woman-child they remember me being. Five hundred years of living for no other purpose than maintaining the barrier, and protecting humanity from the rogue demons of the Makai. That has been my existence. An empty life, distanced from the very souls I protect by the knowledge that whatever I am it is not completely human, not anymore. I _am_ the physical manifestation of the barrier between the three worlds, its incarnation.

You must be wondering who I am and what it is I speak of. Allow me to start at the beginning then.

_Long ago- unless you're not human, then it wasn't really so long after all- about 550 and some odd years really, there was a rather lovely and powerful miko named Kikyo. She was said to be kind, but distant-closed off from the people around her by the burden of her duty. She was the protector of the jewel known as the Shikon no Tama. _

I know what you're thinking… you're thinking, 'Why is she telling me this? We all know the legend of Inuyasha!' Ohhh, well look who knows so much! Now where was I? Oh yeah…

_ It was a lonely position, one that wore at Kikyo's heart when she watched the children of the village running to greet their mothers. There was no comfort for one such as herself, cut off from the rest of humanity. That was until she met him. He was like her, a part of, yet apart from society. Although her position was one of honor while his was a position that was looked down upon. An accident of his birth. _

_They were together in spite of the unspoken but understood rules of the time-that no miko would ever know the touch of a man, lest their powers become tainted, or lost altogether. Theirs was a secret affair, kept hidden from the village. One that even her young sister Kaede only guessed at. But then it came to an end._

_She realized she did not love him. More importantly Kikyo realized that he did not truly love her, that he had come to her with the intention of stealing the jewel. And so she fled, leaving her village her with the impression that she was going to be taking a trip to gain greater spiritual knowledge to better serve them. But in truth she fled from him, for unbeknownst to the thief she carried his child._

What? Never mind the kid! It's not important just yet. Look do you want this story or not?

_ Months passed and she returned to her proper place, among her people. Alone. And that is how she remained, until yet another man came to her seeking the stone. This one was different from the first, for he was an outcast in a way that could not be rivaled even by her position as the protector of the sacred jewel. He was an inu hanyou named Inuyasha._

_ Rivals they were until their rivalry changed and blossomed, deepening into something more. Eventually she grew to love the golden eyed demon, and he to love the strong willed human. But he would never fit into her life as he was. She tried to convince him to wish upon the jewel, to turn himself into a human so that he could have a place at her side. But Inuyasha was stubborn, wanting the jewel to become full demon so that he would never be weak or defenseless against the demons who attacked him because of his heritage. _

_ Then something horrible happened. The thief named Onigumi returned to Kikyo's village, seeking refuge after being wounded during a failed thievery attempt. His return brought dissention between the new lover's and worse, it brought suffering to countless people. The father of Kikyo's child was mortally wounded, burned beyond recognition and there was nothing she could do short of wishing on the jewel she had sworn to keep safe, to keep him alive. Yet she could not bring herself to do so, even though he begged her to save him. _

Sucked to be him didn't it?

_ In his rage he gave his soul to the wandering spirit of a demon, and merged with the malicious being, becoming neither human nor demon, but an evil entity that was known simply as Naraku. Naraku resented the hanyou, desiring both the jewel and the woman possessing it. He took the form of the half demon and attacked the woman he wished to claim, causing her to believe the hanyou had betrayed her as well. _

_ It was a well aimed barb, feeding off the insecurities from her first relationship, and she in rage attacked the innocent Inuyasha. The hanyou defended himself, wounding her and tried to take the jewel from her, believing that her attack was proof that she could not love him, no matter what form he took. She died from his attack, and the jewel disappeared in the flames of her funeral pyre. The Inu hanyou was trapped against a great tree, sealed into a deathlike slumber by Kikyo's final arrow, until he was released fifty years later by a girl from the future. _

Still with me? Good. Now is where the child becomes important. Well not really the child itself, but the fact that it even existed at all is important. The daughter Kikyo had grew up in a village, raised by a loving couple unable to have kids. Her daughter had a daughter- yada, yada, yeah you get the idea. Now this is where the child becomes important…

_ Shortly after the Inuyasha's release at the hands of a miko from the future, there was a wolf youkai tribe, headed by a prince named Kouga. His men attacked the ningen village to capture food for his den mates. All of the villagers were slaughtered, helpless against the more powerful demon predators. Everyone was killed… Everyone except for a single child who had survived only because Sesshomaru, the cold Taiyoukai of the West had revived her, using the great magic of the sword Tenseiga. _

Is that a look of dawning comprehension I see on your face? So you've caught where this is all going have you? Just wait, it gets even better.

_ Yes, as I'm sure you have guessed, the child named Rin, was the granddaughter of the long dead miko. She became the adopted daughter of Sesshomaru and disappeared along with her new family completely after the defeat of Naraku. No one is really certain what became of the arrogant lord and his endearing charge. Except for me… but I'm not telling. I, Kagome, was the girl from the future, and Kikyo's descendant who released the slumbering hanyou from his rest. On my fifteenth birthday, I was drawn into the well at my family's shrine by a centipede demon who attacked me for the Shikon no Tama, which I had been born with inside of my body. _

How should I know how the jewel got inside me?! Of course there's a point to all this!

_ When I found myself in the Sengoku Jidai I released Inuyasha from the tree and he saved me from the centipede, and then attempted to kill me thinking I was Kikyo… But that is not important to this story. The Jewel of Four Souls was ripped from my body and in an attempt to keep it from being stolen I fired an arrow at it. My arrow struck the jewel and it shattered. And so began the journey to retrieve the pieces with the aid of Inuyasha. Along the way I gained other powerful allies against the evil Naraku, in the form of the accursed monk, Miroku, and one of the best demon slayers in the world, Sango. I also acquired my son and heir Shippou, and an alliance with the arrogant lord of the west, despite Inuyasha's protesting the need for Sesshomaru's assistance. _

Then what happened? Well eventually we defeated the maniacal baboon pelt wearing freak of nature that was Naraku and we all lived happily ever after, except Inuyasha who went to hell with Kikyo who had been resurrected from a stolen part of my soul somewhere along the way of our adventures.

Anyway, after the jewel was whole, I had to complete my part of the deal with Sesshomaru in return for his aid against Naraku. The rest as they say is history. I've lived through the past 500 years waiting for the time when my young counterpart officially left for the past, and I am now back at the shrine, getting reacquainted with my old life as if the past few centuries hadn't happened. That's exactly how we're going to play things. I am going to settle back into my role as a daughter, sister, mother and a student and I'll be damned if I don't reclaim the happy years I lost because of that fucking jewel!

Woo, was that bitter or what? Oh well. I'm starting school again tomorrow, for the first time in forever. I'm almost excited. I sincerely want to know just how much of what they will try to teach me will match what I already know. Also, I've gotten better at math over the years and I'm pretty sure I'll pass that class this time around. The problem is, in spite of the fact that I look the same age as I did when I left I don't _feel_ that way. Not to the people who know me. So I'm transferring to a new school, where nobody knows me, and get this… I'm going to be wearing the guys' uniform! Heh, I think it's great. What better way to make people not notice how weird I am than by purposely making myself weird?

Ok I'm finished now. But I bet tomorrow is going to be a real trip! Oh yeah. Definitely excited!


	2. Chapter 1

Hey all! I'd like to give a quick thanks to all my readers so far! So thanks to: Fire Elfglow, Kaguya , Maggie M., and AkanexRanma Forever

Kagomi's POV

**Chapter 1**

Getting ready for school this morning was sheer hell and the thought of doing this every morning for the next year of my life is making me internally cringe and whimper at the headache that I have a horrible suspicion is one of those parent of the future things that will never leave. Honestly, I don't know how my mother does it.

The morning started out ok if you look on the positive side. After all my alarm didn't go off so I should be grateful that my overly hyper kit decided to wake me up…except he did so by jumping on me- repeatedly. If I were being really positive I'd be grateful he hasn't grown at all. Still looking on the bright side here, I should also be thankful that by the time I had joined the living world he had already eaten- pancakes flooded in syrup and hot chocolate. Thank you mother, his teacher is going to sue us. I guess now would be a bad time to point out exactly what sugar does to Shippou?

Finally I convinced him to go bug Souta while I take my morning shower. I don't believe it. We're out of my favorite brand of shampoo… and who the hell picked a rose scented replacement? It was probably Shippou unconsciously choosing something natural to remind him of the Sengoku Jidai. Speaking of Shippou, as if we hadn't been for a quite a while… we're going to have to come up with a solution to his shedding problem. My bath tub is covered in red fur and I don't even want to contemplate what it's doing to the drain. And his toys. I nearly killed myself on that rubber ducky!

Who am I kidding here? I adore my little fox, minor issues and all. I've been living my life waiting to mother him again. Admittedly I missed my family as well but at the center of my mental image of family was my cub's mischievous grin and his bright green eyes. Honestly I wonder when he became so important to me? Still, there's no reason he should be able to get away with murder…

Murder is exactly what I had on my mind when I came down stairs to find Souta and Shippou jumping off the walls. Literally in my demonic son's case. It looked like they had started a game of war with those ridiculous toy guns that shoot those colored bits of Styrofoam with suction cups on the ends. Both sides of the conflict seemed to have received heavy damage as the two boys were both covered in the colorful projectiles, some were even tangled in Shippou's tail. He seemed to come out the worst though as he was had also been hit by some lime green post it notes. The walls of the living room had also fallen, innocent victims in a meaningless battle.

Actually I take that back… I didn't have murder on my mind until I found myself staring cross eyed at the bright yellow arrow that was dangling over my nose from the center of my forehead. Both sides were forced to surrender under my wrath, and the deadly aim of my own bright bits of Styrofoam! Bwuahahahaha! Take that, you insolent pups! Oh man! We're gonna be late!

Shippou used one of his leafs to transform into a slightly older and, more to the point, human boy and he and Souta walked off to school. I grabbed my books bags and ran out the door and hurried in the other direction toward my own new school. And I didn't even have time for breakfast this morning. Remind me again why I felt I should be excited to finish my last year of high school out in my proper time period?

Honestly I almost would have been on time to my first day if I had ignored the scream coming from the side alley. Idiot that I am I rushed toward the sound and saw a group of punks surrounding a girl about my age. Heh, well not my age 'cause man. But she looked as old as I appear to be. And a glance at her blue sailor uniform showed that she goes to my school. Great. If I save her then I'm going to have to worry about running into her again and maybe her even trying to be my friend out of some warped sense of gratitude.

Don't get me wrong I think friends are great and all, it's just after five hundred years it gets hard to watch them keep fading away and dying. Also with the way society is today it's hard to find people who would believe in the kind of stuff that is the norm for me, which means if I make friends I have to hide a part of myself. Inconvenient if not outright painful in certain circumstances. Still I can't just let these wannabes pick on a little girl. Tsk, no honor these days. That's the problem with all these whippersnappers.

Hehehe.

What? After so many decades you have to find ways to amuse yourself. I'm convinced the majority of senior citizens that people think are senile are just trying to come up with new methods of entertainment. Oh yeah the girl in trouble. Guess I should do something about that. Sigh.

"Hey! Looks like somebody didn't teach you lowlifes any manners! " I called out as one of the guys reared back in preparation to hit the poor girl. I'm surprised that caught their attention. I wasn't even trying all that hard to be insulting. Maybe they didn't understand some of the big words I used? The thugs immediately forgot the girl as they rounded on their new target-me. I smiled.

I could feel my eyes narrow the slightest bit, considering the threat posed by the four boys. They were fairly average, maybe a bit bigger in the case of the muscled one on the far left. They had no real power behind them, only their size and skill at intimidation. Common street brawlers, and probably not very high on that level either. My stance relaxed as I quickly took that impression in. I know, I know. Never underestimate your opponent no matter how weak they appear. But these are just regular Joe Shmoes, and they needed an ass kicking if they thought they could get away with bullying the defenseless. After all, if I didn't kick their ass now, the next person they might go after could be Souta or Shippou. Now that thought annoys me. I'm kinda looking forward to this now.

The first guy charged toward me. And right past me as I step to the side and give him a swift kick in the derrière to help him along. I only watch him long enough to see that he lands in a tangled heap in the trashcans along the wall. I turn and shift my head to the side to avoid the fist aiming at my head by the second guy. Of course this gives me the perfect opportunity to plant my knee in his crotch.

Ok who is with me when I say that the look you get when you do that to a guy is priceless? Don't get me wrong, I don't mean just go around doing it to any guy. But if a male really deserves it, don't you think that's a great look? It's this rather comical mixture of pain and disbelief. And ironic as well. I mean he was the guy who was about to hit some random chick on the side walk and then attacked me while my back was turned. Now he's giving me this look like 'I can't believe you are so evil, you maniacal bitch!' Call me crazy, I think it's funny.

But since he's falling foreword to clutch himself, I decide to take a step back and raise my knee again. Now he's falling backwards. Isn't physics fun?

I have to dance back out of the way to avoid the next guy who tries to swing at me with a tire iron. Where did that come from? It's like the thug equivalent of a giant wooden mallet for some anime girl. He just pulled it out of thin air. Oh well, he's not very skilled with it either way. He lunges at me with it again and I dodge before catching it when he swings again. I use his momentum to twist around and slam him into the wall behind us and wrench it out of his grasp, swinging it around behind me without even bothering to look. The bigger guy gave a satisfying yelp of pain as the tire iron connected with him. I glance back to see him clutching his side. I spin around, bringing the weapon up and knocking him-lightly, mind you- in the side of his head, rendering him unconscious.

The guy in the trash cans is getting up by now. I just glance over and give him 'the look'. He seems to understand because he scrambles away yelling something about dealing with me later. Yeah, yeah. I toss the chunk of metal away. Cheap talk. I straighten my uniform and readjust my backpack before going over to help the dazed girl up. The fight hadn't lasted more than a couple of seconds and it hadn't been much of a fight but she seemed shaken up by it. She looked up at me and I withstood her scrutiny in silence. Then she gasped, and I could feel my eyebrow wing up in an involuntary inquiry.

"You're a girl!" She seemed shocked. Huh? Oh yeah… the guy uniform.

"Come on we're going to be late," I say inclining my head in acknowledgement. Really what can you say to such an obvious statement? She agrees and we continue on to school. When she asks I tell her that yes I am a new student and I'm wearing the guy's uniform with special permission from the school board. I can tell she's curious about that one, but thankfully she's too polite to ask. Keri, as I've learned her name is, keeps chattering about random stuff and periodically stops to thank me for saving her. The whole gratitude thing is starting to get annoying really, but she does seem like a nice girl. Right now she's going off about some guy named Shuuichi. Wipe the drool from your chin there dearie. Finally the building is in sight! Thank Kami!

We head to the office, me to get my schedule and Keri to check in and explain why she was late. Again with the gushing about how I saved her. The looks the principle gives me while she's speaking are making me uncomfortable. He, Mr. Yotaru, asks me if it was true that she was attacked and I helped her to school this morning. I nod. The man's kind of creeping me out, and I can't quite put my finger on why.

He doesn't say anything else about it, just hands her a note to excuse her and me my schedule. Mr. Yotaru asks Keri to show me around a bit today, in that adult 'you are going to say yes whether you have other plans or not' type way. She chirps her agreement and we leave. She looks over my schedule to see where I go first. The only class we have together is our final period, art. Something about that principle though…

"Hey Kagome! Over here!"

It's lunch time and Keri is sitting underneath a tree waving me over. I mentally shrug and walk over to join her. She glances up at me to smile but I see her eyes wandering over to the front doors of the school. What's so interesting about the front doors? I didn't realize I said that out loud until she blushed and looked at me with a nervous giggle.

"Shuuichi-san will be coming out soon. This is the best vantage spot to observe him from before his fan club descends upon him."

"Fan club?" I can't help sounding amused. I was never in the popular group to begin with, but I can't believe I totally forgot that happens to some poor souls. Although some of them actually enjoy the attention, some are just well liked. That was the kind of impression I got from her rambling earlier, that the guy was just well liked. At least I hadn't heard any stories about him abusing his rank in the school yet. I turn my head as she gives a tiny squeak of excitement.

When I saw him I stopped breathing. Long red hair, the color of an angry sunset with eyes that were so brilliant you could see that they were a deep emerald green even from this distance. He wore the pinkish red uniform of the upperclassmen of the school, exactly like the one I had on. Although I am strangely jealous to admit, the slender male filled it out much better. I started feeling dizzy as I continued to stare at him.

Don't give me that look. It isn't why you think, although admittedly that was part of it. There's not a woman alive who wouldn't feel attracted to him. Hell, _Kikyo_ would have been attracted to him! But that isn't why I was dizzy.

It was because behind the pale face of the strange male were the features of an equally gorgeous youkai. For some reason the impression of the youkai kept flickering, sometimes becoming stronger, overlaying the boy's face, while at other's he would recede completely. Then both would be visible at the same time. I've never seen anything like it. Then again that's probably a good thing. The shifting occurred too often and without any discernable pattern, and my eyes weren't able to stay focused. It was starting to make me feel sick watching it. Which is a shame because he was darn pretty. Both of him…

I quickly shifted to the side, so that the tree would obscure the view between us and turned away to start eating my lunch. _Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit! My shield! It slipped for a second there, I'm sure of it! What if he sensed my powers? What if he knows it's me?!_

"Oh my Kami! He's looking over this way!" Keri squealed breathlessly, then she groaned in disappointment. "Ohh, he's looking away now. Hey, it seems like he's searching for someone. Wow, whoever it is must be pretty important. He hasn't even acknowledged any of the girls flocking around him." I breathed a grateful sigh of relief that he didn't seem able to pinpoint me. I'm going to have to be more careful, and I'm going to have to investigate this guy to see if he'll be a threat. He's obviously been attending school here for some time so he's not here because of me. But still…

_And what is up with that flickering thing?! It's driving me nuts!_


	3. Chapter 2

Hey everyone who's reading this! I'd like to thank all of you lovely people who have taken the time to review. I really appreciate it. So thankies to Rem9, ... , nyczbabigrl, bloodbunny, star kitty, Western Mistress, and Maggie M.

Special note/ disclaimer type thingy- I don't own Eddie Izzard, or any flags. If you don't know who Eddie Izzard is, then I pity you…

Kagomi's POV

**Chapter 2**

You know, since returning to school there was a lot of speculation surrounding me when people realized I was a girl in the guys' uniform. It was a constant source of entertainment for me. Seriously, I carried around a notebook for the first couple of weeks I attended, keeping track of all the various rumors circulating. In all this time I have classified the types of rumors and the people who supported certain theories into three categories- the catty, the romantic, and the practical.

The catty is the group, primarily of females, that supports the theory that I am gay. Or maybe I am transsexual _and_ gay. Riiigggghhhtt… Of course I have noticed that this belief was most strongly held by the clique who called themselves the Shuuichi Minamino Fan Club.

Gee, I wonder why.

Then there is the romantic group. They are, ironically the most accurate _and _inaccurate of all. They are the ones who believe that I was disappointed in love and wear the clothing so that no male would look at me the way my first love did. (My 'first love' never looked at me that way to begin with.) There was also speculation that I had been stalked/kidnapped and my choosing to wear the clothes signifies the deep seated mental issues that I have yet to deal with regarding my mixed emotions toward my stalker/captor. (Does Kouga count? oO)

Finally there was the practical group. They held with the theory that I wore the uniform because of physical deformities, or out of self-consciousness. They could not agree on exactly what kind of deformity it was, you know like scars, birthmarks, etc. More to the point they couldn't decide exactly how I had acquired the speculated deformities. Was it in a fire? Perhaps I got a skin disease. Or did I get attacked by some wild beast?

What? Like a dog demon who thought I was the miko who had attempted to kill him fifty years ago and wanted the jewel I had been born with in my body? Or maybe it was a wolf youkai who accidentally hurt me when he was kidnapping me to make me his mate! Or maybe it was a squirrel!

Oooh! Oooh, I know! I had a crush on this hanyou guy who didn't know I existed and I couldn't bear it so I became gay! Then I was stalked and eventually kidnapped by a wolf youkai who tried to proclaim me his woman, but that didn't work out because, he was engaged, and well, I was gay at the time. I ran away but was once again captured, this time by a rabid youkai squirrel who made me realize that I wasn't really gay because I loved him even though he attacked me so that he could have the blood of a shrine maiden for a ritualistic spell that would grant him unlimited power with which to crush the world under his iron paw of _rage_! Eventually I escaped am now hideously deformed from the scars, but I had somehow fallen in love with his twisted little mind, and am now suffering the guilt for betraying my one true love! I wear the clothes of a male as an act of retribution to discourage others because no one could replace my furry homicidal lover!

It _sooo_ could work! And it covers all the bases, ne?

…Ok, so maybe not, but it would've been _great_ if someone _had_ tossed that out there. As it was people found out that I was the 'sick girl' from my old school, and they figured my wearing guy clothing was from surgical scars or something. Except for the 'Minamino-chan Fan Club!' who _still _maintain that I am gay. Go figure.

At any rate the people have grown accustomed to my oddities in the past couple of months. Ignoring the occasional flashes of youkai that I sense at times, there is nothing grand or special about the school I'm attending. I have no friends besides Keri, no real enemies, and I have yet to figure out the deal with that Minamino guy. On the plus side I have discovered the rhythm to his flickering and so no longer feel sea sick when observing him. This works out great for me because I have him in art class and I have stationed myself across from him so I can watch him while seeming to be focused on the subject matter the teacher sets up.

I have only spoken to him directly once, and that about a week or so into school when I was running so I could make it to the store before school and plowed into him. I landed on top of the poor guy and I think I nearly killed him in the process.

That event encouraged me to avoid him.

I know, you're probably thinking that was a very cowardly decision. And it is. But quite frankly if you think the effect of his eyes from a distance is startling, guess what an impact they have up close. Well actually that was a rather pleasant sensation, especially when coupled with the physical contact. He is after all _very_ yummy. However, the real problem with being close to him is that I think he sensed something when I landed on him. Can't have that happening now can we? So I observe him from a distance.

Art is the only class I have with the curious Shuuichi, but I do have some other classes with his friends. I have math with that Urameshi guy. He's one of those anti hero types. You know, acts all bad to keep his reputation, but you can see he's a good guy when he's with his girlfriend. English with the big guy with orange hair. What's his name, Kuwabara? Something like that… A lot like his grease haired friend, only louder. The girl, Keiko is also in my English class, and my history one as well. She seems like a fairly normal girl, unlike the guys of his group who all feel… powerful. I can't really describe it since they seem to keep their energies in check, but somehow I get the feeling that they are spiritually strong.

Not that any of this does me any good you see. I'm not on what you'd call speaking terms with any of them, or really anybody else for that matter. Well anybody else except for Keri, and she called me last night to tell me she would be out of town for the week.

Man school is going to be soooo boring today…

We just got out of world history. I'm glad I'm not in that class at the moment. You'd think it's one of the classes that I do good in, which is true. But do you know how often the teacher says something that I just want to jump and start arguing with him over? I have to physically restrain myself. Also since I'm in the back I have to listen to the 'SM fan club' gushing away amongst themselves. We just finished covering the section on European empires. I can't help laughing at the image that suddenly springs to mind. It's probably a good thing they weren't paying attention in class.

"Hey!" I am jerked from my thoughts by a girl's voice. I look up to see the Keiko girl standing over me. I blink, trying to adjust to being drawn from my own little world. "What was so funny?" she asks me curiously. I can't see any reason not to tell her.

"In the words of Eddie Izzard, 'Europe took over other countries with the cunning use of flags.' I was thinking about those girls from history class and I had this horrible mental image of showing up at school to find a chibi Minamino-san on the side walk impaled with a bunch of sticks with home ec. pillowcases tied to the ends. "

_Did I hear a snicker coming from that group of trees over there? _

Keiko looked startled before giving me a confused smile. Then she changed the subject.

"You're Kagome right? I'm Keiko." _I know that. What do you want?_ "Well, I heard Keri is out of town and you looked kinda lonely sitting under this tree by yourself." _I did not. _"So I thought I'd come over and see if you wanted to join me and my friends for lunch today." I flick a glance over at the guys gathered around a table not too far away. Bad idea. But refusing would also be bad… I hesitate for a second longer. She's getting that cloudy look of disappointment on her face. Fuuuck! I incline my head slightly and gather up my stuff to join her. Now she's all happy. Figures.

"Hey guys! This is Kagome. Kagome, this is my boyfriend Yusuke and his friends Kuwabara, and Shuuichi. Say 'Hi'!" she directed this last bit at the males of the group.

"S'up?" Keiko's boyfriend spoke around a mouth of food, earning himself a smack in the back of his head.

"Yusuke, be polite!" she growled at him. The guy beside him, Kuwabara, laughed at his friend's misfortune and stood up as I approached, shifting to the side to make room for me. This left me the space between him and the red head. I gave him a small smile of thanks, taking the offered seat with a trapped sort of feeling.

"Hello Miss Kagome," Shuuichi spoke beside me. I nod in acknowledgment, turning slightly toward him without actually looking at him. Then I shift my attention back to my food. I wonder what mom packed me today. That's another great thing about being back home. I love my mother's cooking.

"So Kagome, tell us about yourself!" Yusuke grins at me. He's kinda cute in a rather angsty sort of way. I raise my eyebrow, cocking my head to the side.

"Like what do you want to know?"

The guys all spoke at once.

"Where are you from?"

"Do you like it here?"

"What's your favorite food?"

"Well I'm from here, I like it fine, and" I finally get my lunch open and I can't help it, "ODEN! Oden!oden, oden, oden! Yay! She fixed me oden!" I immediately zone out everything as I proceed to scarf down my food.

Suddenly my oden is gone… and I find myself staring mournfully into the bottom of my empty bowl. I miss my oden. When I look up, everyone is staring at me. _What, do I have something on my face?_

"And I guess your favorite food is oden," Yusuke guesses with a cheeky grin.

"I belong to the man who can cook me oden!" I reply in a lofty voice before flashing them my own grin .

"So you're not gay?" the carrot top blurts out in surprise. _Huh?_

"_Kuwabara_" Keiko gasps in a scandalized voice. Now they're all staring at _him_ with varying degrees of shock. The poor guy seems to realize what he just said and flushes like a tomato before he starts stammering what I'm assuming was an apology? I dunno, he seemed pretty choked up. I can't help laughing.

"No, but don't tell anyone, ok?"

"Why do you let them say that about you then?" Urameshi asks me in confusion. Kuwabara just shuts his mouth, still bright red.

"Because I have a strong sense of self preservation and if I try to correct the people who think I'm gay they might try to kill me with sticks or something." I place one fist on top of the other as if I'm holding a club and mime beating the air. "Bam! Bam! Bam! Why? Because she's not gay! And she's sitting with HIM!" I gesture to my side, where Shuuichi is staring at me with amused green/gold eyes. Then I pretend to be tying something to the end of my imaginary stick before sticking it into the red head. "Flag!" The joke goes over the guys' heads, but Keiko starts to laugh , finally understanding what I was talking about earlier at the tree.

_Ok there is someone in those trees. I caught a definite flash of amusement from over there. _

I stare suspiciously at it, but I don't see anything. Still… I know what I felt! I felt a youkai! And it was laughing at me damn it!

When I turn my attention back to the group I notice the guys watching me with interest. Do you ever get the feeling that everyone else knows something you don't? They share a meaningful look. For one crazy second I contemplate smacking one of them to break up whatever secret is passing between them. Keiko misses it as she is now scribbling in her notebook. Seems to be the start of a chibi drawing from what I can see. _Hehehe_

But come on! What did I miss? Something brushes against the edge of my awareness and I feel a growing sense of dread.

Suddenly what I missed doesn't seem very important.

I can't contain my cry as a searing pain rips through my mind. I double over the table clutching my side. When the vertigo passes I find myself surrounded by a sea of concerned faces. As calmly as possible I grab a napkin and wipe off my hand. I gather my belongings and stand, ignoring the fact that my jacket is now sticking to my side where there's a growing stain of red. Vaguely I hear myself asking to be excused through my haze of pain, I turn and walk away. I can hear them calling after me, but I ignore that as well.

I walk as quickly as possible to the nearest restroom and enter one of the stalls, locking it behind me. Gasping, I allow myself to sink down onto the toilet, dropping my book bag carelessly. I bend down and get my bandages from the side pocket. Yes, I know it's probably weird to take a homemade first aid kit to school, but I'm not stupid. I knew this could happen. Working quickly I remove my jacket and the shirt I'm wearing underneath it. Why do we even have to wear a stupid shirt underneath it? The stupid jacket buttons up to the neck so it's not like anyone's ever going to see the stupid shirt anyways! I use the stupid shirt to capture the blood trickling down my side.

I hear Keiko come in and ask me if I'm ok.

"I'm fine," I respond absently. I suck in a breath as I see the damage. There is now a hole in my side the size of a grown man's fist. I grab a jar of ointment out of my bag and quickly slather it into the wound, hissing at the contact. Without removing my hands I gather a quick hit of energy and send a blast of healing power through my side, then I begin to wrap it. It won't heal the wound immediately but it'll heal it faster than I would on my own. Already I can feel that it's not quite as deep as it was. Dismissing the puncture in my side as being tended for the moment, I turn my mind inward, sending it reaching out, probing.

Then I find it.

There's a matching fucking hole in the barrier where some demon ripped through!


	4. Chapter 3

Yay, another chapter out! This time I owe thanks for reviews to YoukaiHime, EvilBunny, ScottishFae, Amethyst, Artemis The Goddess, Egyptianlover, the little fox, star kitty, Izedragn, bloodbunny, ladyofthedragons1, Katzztar, The Black Kat, and Katt. Thankies, all for the wonderful reviews! Swoons and gets hit by an oncoming bus …_Ouch_.

Kagomi's POV

**Chapter 3**

There isn't much time. I have to close the hole quickly. I clear my mind, descending into my powers and collect as much as I can. This is not a quick process like with the healing energy I gathered. This is strands of my own life force, intertwined with the power that is the shield.

I hear the voices of Keiko and Yusuke arguing through the cracked bathroom door in the background. Vaguely I am aware of him saying that they had to leave. It doesn't matter to me though, all that is extraneous. I close my mind to the distraction of their voices.

Only the barrier matters now.

Carefully I reach out, siphoning off power from unused reservoirs, energy that I may have used in other ways like going for a run, getting into a fight, the strength that is stored away for everyday living. Merging the extra energy with my ki, I pour it into the edges of the sundered barrier, pushing the ragged edges together until the rip is repaired. In the place of the gaping opening is now the seamless barrier.

I blinked, trying to readjust as I surfaced from delving into my powers. How long have I been busy? Keiko is calling to me through the stall door. I can't help feeling a flash of guilt as I hear the panic in her voice.

"I'm fine. I'm sorry for worrying you." I unlock the stall and her worried face comes into view. She gasps. Oh no, here it comes.

"You are _NOT_ fine! You're bleeding all over the place! What happened?!" she pushed the door open wider and stared in at me in a sort of horrified fascination. You know the same way people stare at a wreck on the side of the road that they drive by. It's a really uncomfortable feeling really and I have to prevent myself from squirming under her eyes. Then she starts clucking over me trying to examine my wound and reassure herself that I am in fact not dying. I am not five years old damn it! When I try to brush her hands away she gives me 'the look'.

I didn't do it mommy, _honest_!

I tried to stand up and would have fallen to the side had the stall not been there to catch me. Keiko rushed forward and helped me gain my balance before helping me take a few tottering steps out of the narrow confines. Then she left me leaning up against the sink.

"I told you, I'm fine. All I need is to go home and sleep."

"Right, and I believe you completely," she says dryly. "Here, put this on. I told Yusuke since he wasn't going to stay at school to leave you his jacket so you won't have to wear that bloody thing. You can give it back to him later." I regarded the bright green jacket she was holding out to me.

"Great. I'm going to go home looking like upside down flower."

"Better than going home looking like a stripper."

"Heh, I suppose you have a point," I concede to the brunette before shrugging into the offered clothing. Hm, A little large but it actually fit fairly well considering. She's staring at me expectantly now, my book bag clutched in her hands. I suppose she wants an explanation. Sigh.

"Look don't worry. This happens from time to time. It's not a big deal. But I really do," I wobble as the room tilts crazily for a second, "need to rest."

"Oh here!" she rushes to my side and braces me again so I don't fall over. "Ok, I won't pester you right now, but I want to know what is going on later," she grumbles as we walk out of the bathroom. I tell her which direction I live and she starts guiding me in the right way.

Vaguely I wonder if I'll even have enough energy to get home.

That is the problem with the power I have. It's all focused on maintaining the barrier. The downside is damage to the barrier is also reflected in my body. This makes it especially difficult when the damage to the barrier is so great. Between the energy required to keep me from passing out from blood loss before I can fix the barrier and the energy that is used to actually fix it whenever it is broken through I don't have any energy left afterward.

I only have access to about half of my overall spirit energy. The rest was focused into creating the barrier and the power of the Shikon no Tama is then used to amplify it between the worlds. You see all I have the use of is my basic powers, such as purifying, seeing things I wouldn't normally, and the like. This is also true of my life force. Half of my life force runs along the length of the barrier so that I am instantly aware of any weaknesses or breeches that occur. Of course should my life be in danger I can draw on the energy that I have focused into the barrier. A necessity at times as I am the only one maintaining the barrier, and a temporary weakness is preferable to the barrier failing entirely. After all, if I die then the entire operation goes kaput, ya know?

Don't look at me like that. I wasn't the one who wrote the spell that way.

And so the point is… the point… the point of all this is… it takes a shit load of power to maintain the barrier! Yeah… So when the barrier is damaged that much and I have to draw on my power reserves my usual response is to just collapse as soon as possible when I'm finished.

"Kagome?! Kagome, get up! I can't carry you to your house! Come on, get up!"

Kami, I hate feeling this weak.

And just where the hell were the people who are supposed to be guarding the barrier, huh? That was the deal. I build it, they guard it. S'true. Koenma is going to hear 'bout this! I'm going to spank him, the big baby… He's so cute as a baby! S'harder to generate a new avatar for demigods than you'd think. After his last 'xploded he had to get a new body, hasn't grown up yet. Cute! n' Fuzzy… fuzzy gray. The world is, not the baby.

"Oh dear! What happened to her?!"

"I don't know. She started bleeding at school, and she wanted to go home but she collapsed. I'm sorry for intruding, but her house is too far for me to drag her."

"Bleeding?! Maybe we should call the hospital."

What? No, no doctors! Where am I? It's cold.

"Kagome, I can't get you any farther. I brought you to Kurama's house okay? I'm gonna call your mother, so you just stay right there on the couch."

Are you talking t'me? Ahh, blanket, nice 'n warm blanket. Now get me another one! Wait, who the hell is Kurama? Aaaaah, fuck it… sleep… yes sleep… and then food… but mostly sl…e…e…p…

I am surprisingly… uncomfortable. Opening my eyes I take in my surroundings and I realize why. I am sleeping on someone's couch. It is an unfamiliar someone with an unfamiliar couch.

Great.

What happened? The barrier, the blood, the walking, the voices. What did the voices say? I can't quite remember. Again…

Great.

I shift my head trying to get a better look around. Hm… there's someone in that chair over there. Apparently I made some noise that I wasn't aware of because the eyes suddenly snapped open to look at me. Dah! Again with the flickering. Okay so that answers that question.

"Are you alright?" his soothing voice asks me. I can't help it, it relaxes me. Just for the record I resent the fact that I don't even really know him and he has this affect on me. Anyways, back to the original point… was there a point? Oh yeah! Where am I and why am I here? Wait, he asked me a question.

"I'm fine." My turn. "Where am I and why?"

"You're at my house. Keiko was trying to help you home but you collapsed halfway there. This is the nearest place she knew. She managed to get you here and call your mom."

"Oh." Heh, I remember that now. Which reminds me, " Who's Kurama?"

I see his teeth flash in a smile in the dark. And both of his forms are visible to me in the half light filtering through the window, somehow each seeming completely solid and firmly in place. "I am. Except at school I am called by my proper name, Shuuichi"

"Oh." Well that's nice then, but I'm hungry. And I told him so. Now he's laughing at me. What? Is this like the national youkai laughing at my expense day or something? That's another thing I need to look into. Why there's a youkai hanging out in the school trees. This day had been weird. Well not really weird in a comparative sense, after all I've had weirder. But it's just not how my typical days have been going in recent months.

I get up, shoving the blankets away from me to follow him into the kitchen. You know, this is very uncomfortable. I mean I just formally meet this guy for the first time today and now I'm camping on his couch. Admittedly I wasn't conscious to really make that decision, but still. And then I woke up to find him watching over me instead of being in bed like he should have been. And now he's feeding me. He's a really nice guy. Damn, I'm a sucker for a nice guy. Oh no! Bad Kagome! Wicked bad naughty! You deserve a spanking! But only if he gives it to you! _What?! Wait! _Where'd that thought come from? Oh this can't be good.

Oh now he's staring at me. Oh heh, he's asking me a question.

"What'd you say?" I snap to attention and ask him.

"I was asking you what you'd like?" the red head repeated patiently.

"Oh, sorry. I guess I'm still a bit out of it. Uh, anything's good. Oden's great. Whatever. Just make whatever." Ok, I was dangerously close to babbling there. Great job Kagome. Just shut up. Don't talk, don't think, and everything will be fine. He gives a thoughtful nod and starts digging through a cabinet.

Shuuichi, Kurama, whoever the hell he is, places a teapot on the stove before finding a pan and adding it to the other front burner. All of this is done without a word. He opens a can of something and dumps it in the pan, then puts a lid on whatever he's making, (maybe I should have been paying attention) before turning around and joining me at the table. The gorgeous male calmly folds his hands on top of the table and stares at me. He is silent. I start feeling fidgety. He's still not saying a word. I feel my eyes darting around the room, trying to ignore the unwavering stare I'm getting from the other side of the table. He's still not asking any of the questions I'm expecting.

Damn, he's good at this!

My eyes jerk to his and I can't keep the annoyed scowl off my face. "Would you cut that out already?!" I snap at him. He raises an eyebrow in question. At this point I am feeling like a shrew because I remember that he apparently has been taking care of me, and he hasn't done anything that I could technically snap at him about.

And he's doing it on purpose, the smug bastard.

"Alright," I sigh in defeat, "How's this? You can ask me any question and I'll answer it honestly, but I get to ask you any question in return and you have to answer it honestly. That way we both get the information we want."

"A game… I quite enjoy games. Very well. Are there any other rules?"

Good question. How about…

"Either one of us can call it quits when we want, but the game stops right then so the other person doesn't have to answer if the person who quit didn't answer their question."

"That seems fair. Would you like to go first?"

Heh, no.

"No. Your tea is ready."

He went to retrieve the tea and whatever was in the pan. "Alright then…" Shuuichi placed a bowl of soup and a cup of tea in front of me, "What happened today at school?" It's really good soup.

"Hm, lemme see. We had a test in math, went over the book we were supposed to have read for English, finished reviewing a chapter in history. Then there was lunch, and I'm a bit dodgy on what happened after that. My turn!" I finished brightly. His lips twitched but I couldn't tell if it was from annoyance or amusement, or both.

"Why do you flicker back and forth like that?"

"Flicker back and- what?"

"Exactly what I said. You _flicker _back and forth. Why do you do that?"

"What are you talking about?" Oh now he looks all cute and confused. I hate it when guys do that.

"Never mind. If you don't want to talk about that why you're red and then silver and then red and then _both_, I understand." I give a hurt sniff, and return to my soup. He seems a bit dazed. I wonder why.

"Silver? How can…? You can see-" I hop up from my chair and place my dishes in the sink.

"Well that was lovely soup, and a fun if surprisingly short game. Thanks for taking care of me when I was out of it, but I really ought to get home. Shippou is probably worried about me and he hates when I'm out alone after dark. So I'll see you later okay?" As I'm speaking I head to the front door, managing to trip on a side table in the process.

You'd think an ability to see in the dark would come with immortality, but noooooo.

When I get to the door I turn back to look at him silhouetted in the kitchen doorway, the golden light dancing along the edge of his body. I can barely make out his gleaming gold eyes staring at me from underneath his flaming red hair.

"Night Kurama," I call out softly before closing the door behind me.

So _that's _the reason for the shirt underneath the jacket. The jacket only has absolutely _no insulation. _

I shiver at the unexpectedly cold air as I make my way down the street toward the shrine.

Suddenly I feel very old. Very old and alone.

…Well alone except for the trace of youkai following after me.

Aaaah, fuck it!


	5. Chapter 4

Thanks for reviews goes to: MikoSnow GodessMe, Artemis The Goddess, Jayde Katt, Amethyst, YoukaiHime, YugiohNicole, Egyptianlove, tessa3, black kaze kitsune, The Youkai Nightmare, ScottishFae, ladyofthedragons1, The Black Kat, nyczbabigrl, karo, lyerial(x2), Cold-Hearted NightFox, star kitty, DemonLady1(2), sparky-the dumbass, anonymousey226273, Keala-Chick, FantasyFreak, Sora Moto, Sara, Ivan's Kitsune, Izedragn, Lady Kagome-Fluffy's gurl, Miko Megami, bloodbunny, kawaiikitsunes, DarknessGuardian, badluck-fangrrl, k, Lord Sesshomaru, hiei is mine forever, and k.

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 4**

I had been summoned, along with the rest of the Reikai Tantei to Spirit World. When I arrived at the child ruler's office my partner, Hiei, was already there. The fire demon was leaning against the wall, glaring sullenly at nothing in particular, or perhaps everything in general. You can never be certain with the diminutive Jaganshi. Yusuke and Kuwabara were not there yet, the most probable reason for Koenma sitting at his desk sucking impatiently on his ever present pacifier. I took up a position against the wall across from Hiei so that I would be able to observe the proceedings as soon as the rest of our companions decided to show up.

I didn't have to wait long. Yusuke and Kuwabara burst in a short while later arguing over who would've won the video game had they not been called away. This lead to the typical method of solving the issue and a brief scuffle ensued.

Twitching is not allowed… twitching is a sign of annoyance… annoyance is an emotion… mustn't… show… _Damn! _

I twitched.

_/Heh heh heh! Couldn't resist it could you human?/ _

_Shut up you!_

"Yo toddler, what's the problem this time?" Yusuke demanded with his usual charm, preventing another argument from breaking out, although this one would've been an internal between me, myself, and us.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! Now pay attention, this isn't going to be like your other missions. A long time ago, before the barrier was created to protect the worlds, um Spirit World wasn't exactly what you'd call organized. You see whenever a hanyou came through, they didn't know how to deal with it so they would judge it as a human. The problem with this is, even though the hanyou may be born again as a human, there will still be traces of you-ki attached to its soul."

_/That doesn't sound good./_

_What do you mean Youko?_

"Yeah, yeah get to the point already," the insolent teen muttered. Kuwabara glanced at him and Hiei ignored all of us. Koenma paused to glare, a silent reprimand that was wasted on the gel haired boy who wasn't even looking at him.

_/I mean what if when you die, I just get reborn into a human again? Or what if your body dies and I take my rightful form but your soul is still attached with my you-ki?/_

_…You mean to tell me you didn't KNOW for sure what would happen when you merged with me?!_

_/Well, actually… no…/_

"Alright fine! A demon's spirit escaped from confinement in Spirit World shortly after the Dark Tournament, although we only just discovered that it was missing, and quite frankly we don't even know for sure what spirit it was that got out. We believe that the demon took refuge in the Ningenkai and we're afraid of him because there are any number of humans whom we really don't want regaining their past memories."

_Youko if you weren't a part of me right now I would KILL you!!_

_/Kill me? Hah! You couldn't kill a fly without my you-ki coursing through you! You'd be a weak human. And more to the point you'd be a weak SISSY one at THAT!/_

"There's another part to the problem though. The old records were so disorganized there's no telling what hanyous got reincarnated where."

_Oh please! If it hadn't been for you, I would be normal. And just for the record, the only reason anyone thinks we're a sissy is because of YOUR thing for flowers. Not that I object to them, but if you weren't around I would never have even looked at plants, let alone sat around coaxing them to grow, so back off!_

"So, lemme get this straight. We have to find some demon, we don't know which one, hidden inside a human, and we don't know which one?" Kuwabara asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Er, pretty much," Koenma agreed.

"Ch."

"Do you have any idea of how we can find him, or any idea of where he might be hiding?" I asked, ignoring Youko for the moment, who was clamoring in the background. Really where did he learn such language?

"Simple, I will use my Jagan to find him."

"Actually," Koenma began, ignoring Hiei's particularly murderous glare, "that's the rest of the problem. We're think we _might_ know who it is, and if we're right about the escaped demon then he knows a way to disguise his you-ki. Not even the Jagan would be capable of tracking it."

"Hn."

"So who do you _think_ it is?" Yusuke demanded in exasperation.

"I'm not telling you that until it's been confirmed. Now your task is to go back to the Ningenkai and if you see any guys who seem odd or are acting differently then let me know."

"So that's it? That's our big assignment?!" our fearless leader demanded of our child boss.

"Perhaps we should focus our search at the school. I felt a flash of unusual energy the other day, but I couldn't figure out where it was from," I cut in before the two could get into the argument that was brewing between them, if the mutinous looks on their faces were any indication.

"Ugh! Fine! We'll go and keep an eye out for any 'scary guys' at school for you," Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"Look at it this way Yusuke. If you're going to school for an assignment then Keiko won't be able to beat you up for not showing up.," Kuwabara supplied… helpfully.

That had been a couple of months ago. We hadn't found any traces of an unfamiliar youkai, or any human who had been acting particularly unusual. Actually there was one human who seemed a bit odd, but she was new and Koenma had mentioned that the demon had been loose since the Dark Tournament. I couldn't quite figure her out, but then the only one of us who had any number of classes with her was Keiko and she mentioned that this Kagome girl was the 'sick girl' from another school, and insisted that we leave her alone.

Speaking of Keiko, she was the one who started it all. The girl, Kagome, was alone today with her friend gone, and Keiko insisted on asking her over at lunch. I didn't mind though since she apparently wasn't one of those fan girls, and I was quite frankly curious about her. My only concern was how Youko would behave around her. After all I remember how he had responded the last time I had been in contact with her.

_/She has curves under that hideous uniform she wears, and in all the right places too. Who wouldn't RESPOND to contact like that? You rather enjoyed it too, if I remember correctly./_

_She tripped and fell on us! How can you possibly even think of taking advantage of a female under those circumstances?_

_/Easy. Like this…/ _And Youko sent a number of images rushing to my head, that caused me to choke on my food. I consider myself fortunate because choking gave me a good reason to have a flushed face.

_Stop that right this instant! Behave, I mean it!_

_/She's coming this way, human. You'd better pull yourself together./ _And with that my youkai counterpart faded into the background, just as she reached our table.

And that seemed to be the beginning of all my troubles that day. Oh sure, lunch was fine, right up until she spontaneously started bleeding all over everything. Then before we could find out what was wrong, we, meaning Yusuke, Kuwabara, Hiei, and myself, were called away on another assignment, although not before I could feel a large amount of spirit energy being channeled from the bathroom where Kagome was.

This was the first assignment we've been given since being ordered to be on guard. As it turned out a number of fairly high level demons had escaped through the barrier together. Rather odd, as we were only capable of finding two when we went searching for them.

That battle was surprisingly short. Yusuke and Kuwabara took the smaller demon, while Hiei and I circled in on the large one. It was a giant humanoid demon with twisted rams horns that curved along it's cheeks, the tips coming out in front of it's mouth like two deadly fangs. Its claws were glistening, almost a sure sign that whatever was coating the tips was poisonous, acidic, or otherwise generally nasty.

Almost as soon as we closed in it had charged us, lowering it's head to try to impale one or maybe the both of us in one blow. Hiei shifted to the side ducking his head slightly, and drew his blade, slashing the strange demon as it sped past. I grabbed a seed from my hair before jumping into the air. As soon as I landed on the other side of the lumbering beast I transformed my rose.

"Rose whip!"

I had wrapped the strands of my whip around his legs tripping him, causing him to collide with the ground in a satisfying thud. I retracted my whip, allowing it to curl in my palm as I waited for the demon to recover. As soon as it had regained its feet, Hiei closed in, cutting the demon with quick strikes that were almost too fast for even myself to follow. I followed up, striking at it with tightly controlled flicks of my wrist. It was very stupid despite its power and it didn't stand a chance against us. We defeated our enemy in time to see Yusuke and Kuwabara had finished up their demon and were complaining that it hadn't put up a satisfying fight.

"Aww, that sucked! I can't believe it! First demon attacking in months and it's over in minutes! There's gotta be more around here! Didn't the baby say there were a bunch of them?" Yusuke turned around in a circle, obviously searching for other traces of youkai.

"Gee I thought that's what he said, Urameshi," Kuwabara's eyes unfocused as he joined the search for any other demons any where nearby. I also opened my senses and found exactly what my companions had found if the disappointment on their faces was anything to go by. Hiei had even gone so far as to actually use his Jagan to look, but he apparently wasn't having any better luck than the rest of us. So we decided to call it a night after contacting Botan on a communicator to let her know what had transpired.

Then when I got home, guess who I found curled up on my couch? Yep. It was Kagome. She was laying there practically swimming in a sea of blankets. Every once in a while she would mutter something too softly for me to make out before subsiding back into a peaceful repose. I found the note from my mother explaining how Keiko had brought her by and not to bother her since she just needed to rest for a bit. Okaaay…

So I fixed myself a quick snack and sat down on a chair where I, or rather we could observe her.

My eyes trailed over the girl's softened features. High sweeping cheek bones, with full soft lips. Her hair is falling around her in a soft curtain of midnight colored silk. The combination of her features created a rather pretty face. Pretty, not beautiful, but fairly attractive. And that is the impression that you would get from seeing her as she is now. But then she would open those eyes… There was just something about her soft blue eyes that made her rather normal face appear absolutely exquisite. Remembering the relaxed intensity in her animated face I can't help but feel drawn toward her.

Is that odd? The fact that when I say 'I' I speak of my body and yet I am unsure whether I consider myself Youko wearing this human body, or Shuuichi borrowing Youko's strength. It gets confusing sometimes, wondering which I am and where exactly I fit into this world. Yet at other times, such as right now, we are completely one and it matters not whether I am human or demon, I am simply me, a composite of both Youko and Shuuichi. At that instant I am purely Kurama, and there is no internal battle for dominance in my mind.

But all this is not what I wish to dwell on at the moment. Right now I wish to understand this curiosity, this puzzle that is Kagome Higurashi. How can you blame me after all?

We simply _love _the challenge of a good puzzle.


	6. Chapter 5

Kagomi's POV

**Chapter 4**

Another day of boring classes with the added spice of trying to avoid my new 'friends' if you can call them that. I got up a whole hour later so that I could get to school late, hopefully I'll miss everyone on my walk there. Naturally walk out my front door and guess what? They're all fucking camped out in front of _my_ house.

Great.

Maybe I should have shown up early to school? I wonder who the little guy in black is? It's too late to slip back inside, the group has already noticed me and they're waving me over. As I approached the group there was generalized round of greetings from everyone present. Except for the dark guy who was just watching me closely.

"Hey Kagome! I was worried about you, are you feeling better now?" This was from Keiko who looked at me with concerned eyes.

"Yeah I'm fine. After I woke up on Shuuichi's couch I went home. I told you all I needed was some rest. "

"And no one was worried about you? What happened when you got home?" Kuwabara asked, eyeing me as if I was going to topple over right here on the side walk. Sigh.

"Who is _this_?" I gesture to the cute lil' demon standing with them.

"Oh this is our friend, Hiei. Hiei, this is Kagome."

"Hn."

"I'll wager he knows that already," I drawl sarcastically as I stare into his unusual ruby eyes. He was youkai and the same one who was shadowing me last night. Remembering the question I had been asked I shift back to it. I think I startled poor Kuwabara, as he seemed to have forgotten I didn't answer him.

"They all took it surprisingly well. I got in, let everyone know I was alive, took a shower, and watched the Escaflowne movie with my son since he was the only one who needed a little reassurance."

"You have a son?!" Yusuke asked. The little guy was staring at me speculatively. Everyone else were in various states of surprise. Although I was a little concerned about Kurama since he suddenly seemed to freeze and he started flickering like crazy.

"He's already at school if you were wanting to meet him ," I started walking towards school myself, fully expecting everyone to follow. Whoa, can I call them or what?

"Hey how old is he? Isn't Escaflowne a bit much for a little kid?" Keiko was at my side. It seemed by unspoken agreement the guys had decided to find out what they wanted to know by letting the curious girl ask the questions they wanted answers to.

"There is nothing that can be added to that anime that is bloody, or gruesome enough to revive it within my mind. That movie is _dead_! And being such I have deemed it ok for my Shippou to watch. After all if I can't take it seriously he is definitely not gonna."

"What are you talking about?! That movie was awesome! A lot better than the series! And come on, the plotline was too dark for a little kid, what kinda mother are you anyways?!" the guy seemed horrified at the thought of letting a small child watch that show. I admit, I might have agreed with him, if it were anybody but Shippou. What on earth is he going off about, something about a code? Who knows.

I guess I should explain since Escaflowne really is supposed to be a slightly darker plotline than the series. Ok the movie is great and all, better animation, Allen looks a lot hotter in this one, Millerna's not such a weenie. Over all it was better than the series, it really was. The problem is about half way through Van goes and saves Hitomi and gets her to safety and then he passes out from the wound he received while doing so. Then Hitomi just says something at that point that is probably supposed to be deep and meaningful. Deep and meaningful is good but not if it just makes her seem _stupid_. "Van, why are you so… _hurt_?" I mean it couldn't be because the poor guy was laying there _bleeding to death _at her feet now could it? How can you take that seriously? So the ending credits rolled around and all I can think as I'm sitting there watching it is "Van, why are you so… _hurt_?" That line just _killed _the entire movie!

"Kuwabara," I interrupt his dark muttering, "I'm going to ignore all that on the grounds that you've never met my son. But just to give you an idea of how 'scared' he was by this movie let me say now that his response was pretty much the same as mine had been when I watched it the first time. Shippou was actually laughing by the time it was finished."

By this time we were about even with Shuuichi's house and there was a lady standing there waiting patiently for us. I pulled up short as I recognized her face. It was little Shiori! I can't believe it! I haven't seen her since she was a kid! She's all grown up now.

"Shiori!" I said happily, "it's been quite a while hasn't it?"

"Wait you guys know each other?" We both ignored that statement. Really it was too obvious to need a reply. She gave me a faint smile, and stared at me, her eyes tracing over my face almost hungrily as she searched for the changes that we both knew wouldn't be there. When she was finished she gave a quiet laugh.

"I almost don't believe it. You haven't changed a bit have you?"

"Nope," I responded cheerfully, "And before you say it, you are not old so don't give me any of that!"

"How did you know that seeing you again like this would make me feel old?"

"Call it a hunch," I laughed at her startled amusement. Then she grew more serious.

"I was worried when you showed up yesterday looking like that."

"Meh! Don't worry about it! I'm frightfully resilient."

"I know. But still I wanted to talk to you. I'm glad I managed to catch you before you go to school," her face pulled into a worried frown. Hm, Shiori was never the kind to worry without good reason. I straightened up, and felt myself go on guard as I waited for her to tell me what was so important. "When I was walking home from work last night I found something unusual. I thought you would want to know about it." She handed me a small pouch. "They were fresh."

I felt it as soon as my fingers closed around it. The instant I realized what was in the bag I pushed through the group and began running, my pounding feet almost keeping time with my racing heart . There was only one thing in my mind at that point.

Shippou.

I had to save my kit!


	7. Chapter 6

Thanks for reviews:Skittles2xtreme, Amethyst, YoukaiHime, ScottishFae, ArtemisTheGoddess, KuramanoMiko2003, chibi dragon, Keala-Chick, The Black Kat, VB, bloodbunny, Inu Youkai-Hime, Why?What?Shutup, hiei is mine forever, Jayde Katt, Artemis the Goddess, DemonLady1, A Girl Who Loves Anime, lady love, Ichigo, Illustrious Sorrow, ladyofthedragons1, Ivan's Kitsune, shade, Sora Moto, and Rem9. And don't worry about insulting me with your reviews, I actually enjoy reading everyone's responses.

Also a special thanks goes out to my friend who wasn't in town to know about my new story before but was really helpful in beta-ing this chapter (mostly by reading what I had down and then making off colored comments about Kurama, but hey I'll accept what I can get )So go read Grimsister's work on Fiction and glares enviously at her stories page

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 6**

Kagome came out of her house and paused as she took us all in. We had gathered at my house in a sort of unspoken agreement and wandered over to her house as soon as Hiei had popped up to lead the way. We ended up at the Sunset Shrine waiting for Kagome to come out so we could all descend upon her, ahem, I mean to make sure she was feeling better… yeah.

I started having a hard time keeping Youko in check. As soon as she appeared he started pushing against my mind trying to get free. This is how he has been for most of the night, if I were to be perfectly honest, ever since she mentioned that she could see Youko.

_/Let me out, you fool!/_

_Down boy! Do you want to scare her?! _I didn't budge despite his rather inventive threats.

_/I'm not going to SCARE her! She recognizes what I am! She's MINE!/_

_Don't you think you should consult her about that?! _Shuuichi mentally spat back at him.

_/How can I when you two won't let me?!/ _Youko practically howled at me in frustration.

_Do you guys ever shut up? BE STILL! _I thundered back at him.

_/…You know that wasn't very nice./_

Issues Fox? Hiei murmured quietly in my mind so that no one else could hear.

It's Youko. He's attracted to her.

_/Can you blame me?/_

And he's being difficult about it.

And you are not attracted to the girl? She is quite a mystery. Hiei knows my weaknesses too well it would seem.

Shuuichi wants more than a quick tumble and the satisfaction of figuring out what's so different about her. Youko doesn't seem to care though. He wants to figure her out and bed her, not necessarily in that order.

Well you might want to contain yourself better. Your eyes are golden. I felt Hiei withdraw from the conversation in my head and I tuned into the conversation in the real world. Kagome was speaking.

"They all took it surprisingly well. I got in, let everyone know I was alive, took a shower, and watched the Escaflowne movie with my son since he was the only one who needed a little reassurance."

'My son.' I froze as her words circled around in my head.

She has a son.

Where's the father? What if he's still around?

_/Simple. I'll kill him!/ _Youko snarled possessively.

_Hey wait a minute! You can't go around killing people just because they have what you want! You can't go around killing people at all! You're on probation! _We walk after her as she argues about something with Kuwabara. oh yeah and Hiei comes along too. More to the point he's on probation in my body, the selfish bastard.

_I.__ Don't. Care. I will shred him limb from limb if he ever comes near her! How dare he claim what I have chosen! No one EVER touches what is mine!/ _

_What if SHE chooses him over us?!_ I'm trying to be reasonable I really am, but Youko is making it very difficult.

_/Are you saying that I would ever lose to a human!?! Never!/_

_Cocky aren't we?_

_/Confident. And with good reason, human./ _He corrected me coolly. He stared calculatingly through our eyes at Kagome's back.

Perhaps mocking him hadn't been the best approach in trying to distract him…

Pointedly I ignore the knowing looks the small Jaganshi is tossing at me as we walk towards the direction of school, and instead focus on the length of Kagome's hair, swaying as she walks and brushing carelessly against her -whoa!

_Did you have anything to do with that Youko? _I demand fiercely, jerking my eyes up to focus on Kuwabara's head. Nothing dangerous about him at least.

_/Hate to disappoint but that was completely yourself, Kurama!/ _Now he's laughing at me. Honestly I don't get any respect. Even myself is laughing at me. I am distracted from this train of thought as Kagome suddenly starts speaking… to my _mother_?

"Shiori! It's been quite a while hasn't it?" How does she know my mother?

"Wait you guys know each other?" Yusuke asks, but none of us pays any attention to him. My mother is staring at Kagome with a small half smile gracing her lips, and her eyes are searching the younger girl's face for something. I wonder what she's trying to find? My mother gave a tiny laugh.

"I almost don't believe it. You haven't changed a bit have you?"

"Nope," Kagome responded cheerfully, "And before you say it, you are not old so don't give me any of that!" I could see my mother's surprise at her response clearly written on her face.

"How did you know that seeing you again like this would make me feel old?"

"Call it a hunch," Kagome laughed at her startled amusement. Then my mother grew more serious.

"I was worried when you showed up yesterday looking like that." It was like the rest of us didn't exist, they were so focused only on each other.

"Meh! Don't worry about it! I'm frightfully resilient."

"I know. But still I wanted to talk to you. I'm glad I managed to catch you before you go to school," mother's face pulled into a worried frown. "When I was walking home from work last night I found something unusual. I thought you would want to know about it." She handed Kagome a small pouch. Her soft voice was solemn as she spoke the last words. "They were fresh."

I could feel something in the pouch, a power reaching out towards me. It was wrong. Whatever was in the pouch shouldn't exist, should never exist. And Kagome seemed to realize what it was, what the power meant. As soon as her hand closed around the bag, whatever was in there flared in response to her touch. And suddenly she pushed through us, running back the way we came, a mingling look of stark terror and rage etched onto her delicate face.

"Shuuichi!" I turned to look at my mother, "I know this is a lot to ask, but could you go with her rather than to school? Just this once?"

There was a universal round of, "Huhs?" from everyone present, myself included as we stared at my mother in shock.

"Please! Too much is riding on her shoulders for her to lose control, and if she feels her son is in danger that is exactly what she will do! Please, just go after her! Here, I'll take your books back inside." We all stared as my mother took my bag and went back inside the house.

"Did your mom just give you permission, no _ask_ you to skip school?" Yusuke asked in disbelief.

"That… wow…" was all Kuwabara could think to say to the situation.

"Could someone tell me what's going on around here?" Keiko stared at the closed door.

Hiei and I shared a look before we both took off, not even bothering to respond to the conversation going on among our friends. I followed as closely as possible behind the black blur. The rest of the group seemed to realize that we had left them behind as I could hear Yusuke calling to Keiko to go ahead to school without him. The two boys were running after us trying to keep up. Keiko warned Yusuke to be careful but the sound was fading behind us and I could hardly hear her.

Kagome was in sight now. She tossed her yellow bag onto her front lawn without even breaking stride. And an old man in blue and white priest garb called out but she didn't respond, and neither did we as we all raced past her house. Finally we managed to _start _catching up to her, but she was too focused to respond to our calls and questions. Eventually we all gave up.

_/Her child… We have to help to help her if it really is in danger./_

_And here I thought you were just sex crazed bandit. Could you actually be interested in her as more than a potential lay? _Youko ignored my jab.

_/No matter what I said about the man in her life the child is innocent. Besides, saving the child would help get us on her good side./_

_Always the practical one aren't you? _I respond back dryly. Secretly though, or not really secretly since he knows how I feel, Shuuichi and I really were both surprised. Even though he had admitted that there were benefits to the decision to help the kid, I sensed the protective edge underlying his words.

Youko Kurama, most feared thief in all of Makai, has a soft spot for kids. Who knew?

I was jerked from my thoughts again as Kagome ground to a sudden halt, crashing into a kid of about twelve or so, and holding him up as he regained his balance.

"Ni-chan, they took him! These monster… demons! They have Shippou! One just grabbed him and disappeared into thin air!" As I watched I took in the details of the boy. His hair was the same shade as Kagome's. His face was pale and tear streaked and his pupils were so dilated you could barely make out the tiniest ring of blue around the edges. Youko started snarling in rage in the back of my mind, a low dangerous rumbles that set me on edge, and fueled my own anger at the demons who would put that look into the eyes of a child.

"Shh, I know Souta, it'll be fine ok? I want you to go back to the shrine and tell mama what happened ok? Go on now, run!" Kagome gave the child a gentle shove and we all parted so her little brother could follow her orders. As soon as he was on his way her face shifted from soothing lines into an icy fury. She whirled back toward the grounds of the elementary school, the change in her walk immediately evident.

Her all out run had suddenly become the gliding steps of a predator and we all immediately felt a trickle of power begin to slowly swirl around her as she gracefully stalked toward the demons who were grouped together, discussing what they were going to do to the children they had caught so far. Oddly all the demons present had a humanoid shape.

A number of kids and some staff members were trapped by the silken threads of a giant web. Another glance at the windows showed that there were a number of humans hiding inside the building who were too scared to come out. Somewhere in the distance I could hear a siren, but it was too far away and there was no chance the cops would be able to save these people in any case.

I pulled a transformed rose from my hair and moved towards Kagome when she reached the first demon. As it turned out she didn't even need my support. She turned the first demon around and grabbed him by the throat.

"Where is my son?" the words were soft, silken, dangerous. I felt a shiver run up my spine at the threat in her voice, not of fear but oddly one of excitement. This wasn't the playful school girl speaking. This was a woman defending her own. When the demon smirked at her without saying anything all she said was, " I see." With that she sent a bolt of strange energy into his throat and dropped him without a second glance as she walked toward the other demons. The one she had just attacked lay there writhing, his face twisted as he slowly melted, his body slowly dissolving into a deep purple goo.

Purification? She was a miko?

I saw Kuwabara run over to cut at the webs from the corner of my eye but all my attention was focused on the raven haired girl who fearlessly walked among the demons demanding that one of them tell her where her son is. They all circled around her, all of them too _stupid_ to recognize the homicidal fury that rolled off of her in almost tangible waves. Hiei and I both held back, each of us wanting to see what she could do. Although I was tensed, ready to rush to her aid should they even harm a single hair on her head. Yusuke apparently held the same idea. Even though he was freeing the children and teachers from their imprisonment he did so where he could always keep an eye on the strange woman child.

"I will ask you this only once youkai. Where. Is. My. Son?"

The demons all glance at each other before staring at her with viscous leers that made my vision begin to redden around the edges. I heard them all laughing in response.

"Is this the little miko our boss is after? Think he'd mind if we had a little fun with her first?" I was surprised to feel Hiei's arms wrapped around my own. I hadn't realized I had just about launched myself at the offensive creature. I glanced back at him to see him shake his head slightly then jerk his chin toward the events unfolding.

"You won't tell me where my son is? Then you are useless to me."

With that announcement suddenly the energy that had been swirling around her before sharpened, solidifying into blades of white-blue energy that surrounded her in whirlwind slowly flowing away from her body. The knife edged energy ripping into the group of demons. Too late they recognized the danger of the tiny woman who stood before them and their screams could be heard as they disappeared in a flash of white light, consumed by the energy that slammed painfully into them. Only one of them managed to scramble out of its path and was trying to run away.

All of us Reikai Tantei froze to stare at the display of raw force. I could feel the barely contained energy straining to be released, held carefully in check by the delicate being who floated in the center of the funnel of power. Her hair almost gently floated up around her face in a silken halo, and her eyes glowed white as she stared at the retreated demon's back. Suddenly she jerked her hand out toward the escaping youkai, and small stream of energy flowed from her hand wrapping around his feet and drawing him back towards her. The demon scrabbled frantically to get away, his claws digging into the hard cement, leaving deep gouges as he resisted the force that pulled him back towards her. When that failed her tried to cut the power holding him, but he only succeeding in injuring himself. I felt no sympathy for the terrified youkai who now had my lady's foot pressed against his throat.

Kagome held a ball of blue power within one hand, and a pink wave flowed out from her palm around it, encasing the energy in curious shell. She then dropped the sphere onto the demon and it flowed into his chest. She made a second, slightly larger one the exact same way that she then dropped into his stomach. I couldn't tell what she was doing, but she was chanting underneath her breath as she sent another tendril of energy through the demon's body. Then all of her power immediately receded and she stepped back. Appearing once more like an average teenage girl.

"W-why," the demon licked his lips nervously, "why did you spare me?"

"I didn't," she informed him coldly. "I have a message for you to deliver to your master. Tell him if any harm comes to my Shippou I will personally exterminate him. That's my word, not as a miko, or even as a representative of the worlds, but as a mother."

She turned away before continuing, "By the way the spell I just cast was a timing spell. That pink energy contains the purifying powers of the blue energy. You have thirty minutes in which to complete your first task of delivering that message. Then you have an extra hour to haul your sorry ass back to Makai. Should you fail to do either one in the allotted amount of time, the pink sealing energy will disappear from your body, releasing the purification energy. You will be purified from the inside out. You'll be dead within a minute. But it will be the most excruciating sixty seconds of your existence."

_/Wow, I've never heard of that before!/ _Youko breathed in the back of my mind.

_No kidding! That's incredible…_

_/Now it's about more than satisfaction./_

_You mean you're looking at her as something more than a play pretty now?_

_/Shut up! She is better than that, in case you haven't noticed. Or are you blind?/_

"A-and if I do both?" the demon whimpered as he realized the amount of trouble he was in.

"All of my powers will return to me, and you will be freed. But you better hurry. You're on the clock." With that announcement she opened a portal to somewhere and slipped through. The demon got up and started running as fast as he could.

"Man all those demons and we didn't even get to fight," Yusuke complained, he and Kuwabara joined us. All of the kids and teachers were free and were now hiding inside.

"I wanted some action too!" Kuwabara added.

"Hn. Baka. Would you really get in the way of that woman just for a fight?"

"No way! That was too intense! I've never felt power like that before! Not even from Genkai."

" 'Representative of the worlds?' I wonder what she meant by that." I murmured to no one in particular as I stared at the spot she had disappeared to. And where did she go?

"Who knows? This is all getting a little too complicated. Maybe we should check with Ko-" before he could even finish his statement Yusuke's pocket communicator shrilled at us.

"I NEED YOU GUYS HERE _NOW_!" Koenma screamed as soon as his face appeared on the tiny screen. Then just as suddenly he was gone.


	8. Chapter 7

Thanks to all of my reviewers! Lemme see that includes: YoukaiHime, Skittles2xtreme, TriAnime, ScottishFae,Kurama no Miko2003, Amethyst, InuGirl13, tessa3(x2), Vedelle, VB, Artemis the Goddess, kitsune-chan3, Ivan's Kitsune, W?W?Su, Inu Youkai-Hime,jasmine of light, Kikitravel, The Black Kat, Blades of the Sun, bloodbunny, Keala-Chick, Houndingwolf, Kuramafan, DemonLady1, Vaz, hiei is mine forever, kagome-angel2000, kuro honoo, ColdFang, draky, PrettyGurl Sango, Diana, Moon-n-Universe-Goddess, rogue solus, LLJade, Animegrl2, Jayde Katt, Grimsister

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 7**

"I've already given you your orders, Yusuke!"

"I know but I just wanted to ask why-"

"Yusuke, the thought of what Hiei would do if anything were to happen to Yukina scares us. The thought of what Kagome would do if anything were to happen to Shippou _terrifies the shit out of us_! WHAT ARE YOU DOING STILL STANDING THERE!?! _GET MOVING!!!_" Koenma shrieked at us, scattering the papers from his desk in the process of flinging something at Yusuke. We all rushed out of the unstable ruler's office.

Hiei immediately took off, saying only that he'd see us when he got the kid. I was surprised at the koorime's response, but perhaps the mention of Yukina had spurred him into action.

"Well. That was… interesting." I broke the silence.

"Wasn't it though? I do believe that the toddler is terrified of Kagome." Yusuke agreed with me.

"Are you referring to the 'IT'S NOT FAIR! I DON'T WANNA GET FED TO SESSHOMARU!' thing?" Kuwabara laughed. I wonder who Sesshomaru is? The name sounded vaguely familiar, but…

_Hey Youko, do you know who he was talking about?_

_/No, but I feel like I should./_

_You're useless._

_/Hey! I am not useless! It's not like YOU'RE fairing in better in the information department!/_

"Who's Sesshomaru?" our big friend thought to ask. Not having the answer, I ignored him.

I began thinking out loud. "What I want to know is why? What's so important about her that Koenma will immediately assign Hiei to go save her son, and why we were immediately assigned to find out who was behind it?" There's too many questions here, and no one seems to be willing to provide any answers. I notice Yusuke rubbing his head where there was a bright red mark in the shape of Koenma's seal.

"Yeah, right, Kurama. _We_ were assigned to find out who's behind all this. You're just supposed to make sure Kagome doesn't go all psycho and try to save her son herself. Good luck finding her by the way." Hm, he has a point. According to Koenma she didn't show back up at the shrine.

"How's your forehead?"

"It'd feel better if Koenma hadn't had a hissy fit and thrown his stamp at me when I tried to ask him a question instead of immediately rushing out to get myself killed while doing his bidding."

"Hehehe, if anyone had any questions about who owned you before, they're gone now!"

"Shut up!" The two immediately began to argue in the background and I tuned them out to figure out what I should do next. There were just too many question here that I needed answers to. Koenma didn't know where Kagome was. Her family might know but why would they trust me? There is only one other person that I know knows anything about Kagome.

Perhaps it is time to have that chat I've been meaning to have with Mother.

I arrived at home in time to see my mother hanging up the phone. She turned to me as I came through the door.

"Shuuichi, where's Kagome? Her mother just called to tell me that she hasn't come home and she's getting worried."

"She disappeared. She found out her son had been kidnapped. After attacking the guys behind it, she opened a portal in thin air and went through. Now she's gone."

"Oh, I see."

"Mother." I stated patiently, staring at her, waiting for her to start talking. It's a good technique. It's amazing how often it works.

_/Are you going to actually tell her about me?/_

_I'm not sure. I guess I will if the opportunity presents itself. _Do I really feel that hesitant to introduce my youkai half to my mother?

_/You're not a fox, you're a chicken! Bu-cack!/ _

_Shut up! If I miss important information because of you yapping in the background I'm going to be VERY not happy!_

_/Like you can do anything about it!/_

_I'm sure I can come up with something. _The benefit to having an extra voice inside your head, is whenever you are using such the silence method of trying to obtain information is there's no possibility that you will get bored waiting for the answer. Also because you are having to verbally spar with the other voice means you tend to have a focused look and people are under the misconception that it is aimed specifically at them. Boy are they wrong.

_/What pray tell do you think you could do that would ever affect me, human?/_

_Don't make me make us watch Barney! _It was a good solid threat. Youko gave a horrified whimper and backed down.

"The tea is ready. Just sit down, son. I'm sure you have questions after this morning."

"A few," I agree wryly, joining her at the table.

"So what exactly would you like to know darling?" my mother asked me as she calmly folded her hands on the top of the table. Somehow I feel like I've been through this before. Oh wait I have. Just the other night in fact. I decided to lay everything on the table.

"Mother, how do you know Kagome? What was in that bag? Why did you want me to go after her? And _what_ is going on around here?!"

Shiori laughed quietly at me, not seeming surprised or even really concerned at my unusual outburst.

"I suppose that's fair. But where to start exactly?"

"Why not start at the beginning?" I suggested swirling my spoon around in m cup.

"Yes, but which beginning? My beginning, the barrier's beginning, or Kagome's beginning?"

The barrier's beginning? I did not just hear that, right?

"Hm I guess I will start with my beginning, I have a better understanding of that story after all. It will be hard for you to believe, but try not to laugh at me too hard when you first hear what I'm about to tell you." I waited expectantly. She smiled softly at me before her eyes turned inward.

"You see when I was a younger I wasn't like other girls. I didn't understand what it was that set me apart, but as I got older I started changing. Things would happen around me that I would have no control over. Then one day _she_ showed up. Her name was Kagome and she was a very powerful miko. She didn't normally go out of her way to train young girls with powers unless there was a need. And at that point in time there was. As it turned out an evil demon had escaped from the demon world known as the Makai and was stealing the powers of girls with potential by killing them. I was fairly strong, but as yet untrained and as such was the perfect target. She began to train me immediately, with a focus on disguising my powers."

She paused to take a sip and her brow furrowed as she seemed to consider what she was about to say next. Mom is a miko?

"The demon who was loose would steal the powers from young potential mikos by using kitsune energy to trap their souls in a special flower. And Kagome was trying to stop him because he kept killing other girls, but mostly he was boosting his own power to try to attack her."

"You're telling me that some fox demon broke loose from the Makai and was killing off mikos to try and kill off Kagome?"

"Not really. Technically he broke loose from the Makai and was killing of mikos to try to destroy the barrier. It has a lot to do with what's going on now since the bag I gave Kagome held seed of Miko Soul, the plant that is harvested by the demon. And anyways he was a crow not a fox."


	9. Chapter 8

Thank you all who reviewed this time around: Kikitravel, Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe, bloodbunny, Keala-Chick, The Beauty of Night, Kurama and Hiei's lovable miko, DemonLady1, Ivan's Kitsune, k, Artemis the Goddess, Flame99, ColdFang, Star Silver fox, FuzzylumpinsNlove, BabyTil14, Katana-kun, Western Mistress, Defafaeth Mechqua, YoukaiHime, Artemis The Goddess, kikitravel, sundragon special, Karama, Amethyst, dunken, and Avid Reader .

Shiori's POV

**Chapter 8**

I was only slightly younger than my son is now when it all started. I remember that day very clearly. It was the day of the New Year's festival. I was trying to get away from all the bustling clamor, I wanted to be alone and so I went to a small park. The place was thankfully deserted. I remember sitting down leaning against a tree. It was such a pleasant day, so peaceful and quiet.

Suddenly he was right there in front of me, a stranger in black with long ebony hair. I couldn't see the lower part of his face past the mask he wore. I didn't recognize what he was, all I knew was that he was very, very dangerous. And on a level that I could never hope to understand.

I was frozen.

I started screaming at myself in my mind to run. But I just couldn't. He walked towards me slowly, and he seemed to be calculating just what he was planning to do me. I remember his cold violet eyes caressing me. I felt violated by his very presence. That more than anything terrified me.

But then _she_ showed up.

I didn't even see how she got there; it was as if she had appeared out of thin air. A strange woman with long blue-black hair that was pulled across her right should in a loose ponytail. She was wearing the robes of a miko, only instead of being the traditional red and white she wore black and white. Her back was to me and there was a black dragon that twined between the shoulder blades of her top. It was almost as if the dragon was staring at me with it's glowing jeweled eyes. She spoke to me over her shoulder without looking away from the strange man, that I later discovered to be a demon. Her voice was kind but there was a hint of steel underneath her words, a warning to him when she addressed me.

"Shiori. Run along home now. I will deal with this."

I never questioned how she knew my name or whether she would need help. There was such a commanding air about her and the air positively crackled when she turned her attention back to the dark youkai. I didn't dare disobey her.

I ran.

When I arrived home, I ran to my room and locked the door. I'm not sure how long I stayed there curled up on my bed hugging my pillow. Eventually I fell asleep. I don't remember actually doing so but I woke up to someone tapping on my window. When I jerked awake I was so relieved to see it was her. I hadn't even realized that I had been worried. I quickly opened the window and let her in.

"What happened?" I asked as she closed the window behind her and proceeded to remove her shoes.

"We fought. I injured him, but he escaped before I could purify him," she responded absently looking around. I gestured her toward the bed and she inclined her head in thanks.

"Purify him? Are you trying to tell me he was a youkai?!" I demanded as the strange woman settled herself in the middle of my bed. I finally got a good look at her. She didn't look to be more than eighteen with those features. That is until you looked at her eyes. Ancient eyes that held wisdom far beyond what her appearance implied. At that instant she could have told me that the moon was made of jam and I would have believed her.

"His name is Karasu. A crow demon that specializes in explosives. He's very dangerous, not only because he can draw energy from the air around him into his mouth to create very specialized bombs, but also because he can steal power from the people or other demons and then use that power for his bombs, or for other special attacks." She grimaced, "The problem is the method he uses to steal energy is rarely pleasant for the person on the receiving end of his attention. He's quite sadistic."

"Why was he after me though?" I stood there wringing my hands. Vaguely I wondered if I were really asleep and this were all a bad dream. The miko looked at me with an 'Are you serious?' expression.

This reminded me, I still didn't know her name.

"You have a strong spiritual energy, Shiori. He wants that. If he can steal it then it will boost his power, at the cost of your life. He is the worst kind of thief."

"So where do you come into all this? I mean, who are you?" I asked helplessly. It is one thing to realize that you are different from everyone. It is another thing entirely to suddenly realize that because of the aforementioned difference someone is going to try to kill you in a potentially unpleasant manner.

"That's right. How rude of me, not to introduce myself to you before now. My name is Kagome Higurashi. I am involved because I have no desire to allow Karasu to grow any stronger, especially considering the cost of his gained power."

"How do you know my name, about my powers? No one outside of my family knows about me," I tried to insist. She patiently stared at me, waiting for me to finish. She waited a beat before explaining.

"I am _very_ old Shiori. How I acquired this information is of no concern to you. Be grateful I do know these things, or the crow would even now stealing your soul and trapping it within a flower. As to how I recognize your power, that is quite simple. They are the same ones that I myself once learned to deal with. I had to search out teachers to help me gain control. I have chosen to come to you however because you will be one of the few who are in the greatest danger. There will be a price for providing you the skills with which to protect yourself and your loved ones."

"How much do you want?" I demanded. I admit I thought she wanted money for her services. For an insane moment it even crossed my mind that she had hired the creepy guy to scare me out of my wits.

"How much?" She laughed at me. "No dear. This is not a matter of money. You'd be surprised how much of Japan a person can acquire after a couple of centuries. No I will teach you how to use your powers, and I will help to defend you against Karasu until you are strong enough to do so yourself. In return I would ask you to use those powers in such a way that all will be benefited by your skills. But that is something that can be left for later."

"In the meantime," she raised a softly glowing hand and waved it in my direction. I felt a sense of quiet contentment, the kind of feeling that you might get from being held by someone surround me when I became enveloped with a matching blue light. "This serves the double purpose of protecting you and it will shield your powers as well. Tonight is the New Year's Festival and your family is coming home now. You will be safe this night, so do try and have fun ok? I'll be back tomorrow to start your training." With that she stepped through a portal, and disappeared mere seconds before my mother called up the stairs, looking for me. That night I shoved everything to the back of my mind and enjoyed the festival for all it was worth. By midnight I had almost managed to convince myself it was all a big hallucination caused by the sushi.

The next day, as promised Kagome returned to begin my training. I spent months working with her in secret. I joined the archery club so that I could start working with a bow and arrow. I even convinced my parents to allow me to set up my own targets in the back yard to practice. I spent countless hours going over old scrolls and learning how to harness my abilities. The woman was a slave driver. Not that I could complain. Well actually I could complain and did so frequently, but the simple fact of the matter is I knew why she was pushing me so hard. If I ever forgot all I had to do was think back to that day when I first saw _him_. Also aside from my miko training she would frequently help me with my homework. Although her view points on certain things were a bit unusual at times, I learned a lot.

Karasu still would periodically try to attack me and as promised, Kagome was always there to protect me from him, although he somehow always managed to escape. I got better at protecting myself after a couple of years, but I always felt better knowing she would be around. Then I finally decided how I would use my powers in order to repay her. I became a servant of the Spirit Realm, one of those known as a Guardian. My function was to help protect the barrier from attacks. That is how I met my Shuuichi's father. He was on the team of Spirit Detectives at the time. Eventually we married and I had our son. And the rest is, as they would say, history.

Now I sit at my kitchen table calmly speaking of these things as if it were nothing. I wonder if my son will think me insane after this? Or maybe he will think that I am making everything up? Perhaps, it doesn't matter.

I have no way to prove what I just told him, nothing except for my old miko clothing and bow. I lost most of my powers with the birth of my Shuuichi. For some reason all of my powers transferred into him. It probably has something to do with that youkai who entered my body when he was still inside me. A miko cannot use her powers when she is with child without risking the life of her baby. And so I had no way to prevent it, nor could I remove it from my baby after he was born without endangering my son's life, even if I still enough of my power to do so.

Often I have watched my son, wondering exactly what that demon did to him. Underneath the sweet surface of his eyes there is something quite dangerous at times when he is lost in thought and thinks no one is watching. I wonder what it would be like if that power within him rose to the surface. Would my son be lost to me forever? It's my greatest fear. The only one I have ever had for my son.

But even if he is, I know I have been blessed by his presence in my life. No matter what, he is mine and I will protect him always. Only this time I am not sure I will be able to protect him. It would seem Karasu is free, and my son may become a target because of the power coursing through his body.

Perhaps the little youkai who sleeps in the tree outside my son's window will be willing to help protect him? I will ask him the next time he is around. The demon boy rarely drops his guard enough for me to be able to sense him, but he is Shuuichi's friend. I wonder if he would like to have the spare room. What was his name again? Hiei? I think I will have my son ask him if he would like to stay with us. He seems so alone at times. Yes, I think it would be good for the two to be close.

Oh dear. It would seem I have startled my son with my story. I don't think I've ever seen him look so… overwhelmed. What he is muttering. Something about me knowing all along about the demon? Oh yes of course I knew. Although if he is aware of the demon then that means it is still inside of him, a part of him now. I hope he's planning on introducing me to him one of these days.

A fox demon?! And a _silver_ one at that! Those are quite rare aren't they? His name is Youko Kurama? Wasn't he a thief?

Well that's alright then. I was worried it would be something dangerous. Well I'm sure Youko can be very dangerous, it's just foxes in a generalized sense aren't what I would consider high on the list of predators. Not that they aren't perfectly capable of killing. They are after all demons. But if you ask them, running around slaughtering thousand of helpless humans isn't typically high on their list of things to do this Saturday. As far as I'm concerned kitsunes are like the youkai equivalent of… hippies, or something. Shagging, stealing and communing with nature is pretty much what you're going to get from them.

If you want to be a demon, there's really nothing I can do about that. You are after all old enough to be whatever you want. And the simple fact is, he's been living in this house for nearly eighteen years. My knowing won't change that. As long as you two don't start growing any Makai drugs or anything I don't really mind having him around.

Why are you looking so shocked?


	10. Chapter 9

Thanks to everyone who reviewed: dark-death-angel, ColdFang, DemonLady1, Artemis the Goddess, k, ElysianKiss, The Black Kat, Youkaihime, Keala-Chick, Ichigo, bloodbunny, Star Silver fox, Blackfire Hell Demon, Ivan's Kitsune, Kitty, Kaida Celeborn, ponchita, EVILmonkeys1, Avid Reader, Katzztar, Sundragon, Jazz-chan, Kurama no Miko2003, Amethyst, MissMarilyn69

Kagom'es POV

**Chapter 9**

Well here I am, back at Shippou's den. Oh didn't I tell you? Before I brought Shippou back to the present, I had him take me to his family's den and asked him if he wanted me to keep it for him. So I had a house built around it, hiding it. I also bought the surrounding land so that there would be a natural area for him to enjoy.

Raised in feudal Japan he is used to the wilderness, and I would never want him to feel closed in. A free spirited fox, he needs natural surroundings. I know it must seem odd that I would take the time to do this, but I never want him to forget his youkai parents. And I thought that he might have kits of his own one day that he would want to see where he lived once. I know that's a long way off yet, but it never hurts to be prepared. I guess you could say this is Shippou's inheritance.

I don't know why I feel so drawn to this place. It's like I'm coming here to be near where the feel of his original parents is so strong. Like I know they are also worried about him as I am. Keeping their spirits company while I wait for news of our son.

Yes Kagome, you have finally cracked.

Oh well.

That energy… how did _he_ get here? I walk through the house to open the front door. As I stand there I see him approaching, walking among the trees and flowers growing recklessly around the house. I really need to get a gardener in here to clean things up a bit. Wait a minute! Focus! Why is Kurama here?

Shiori.

She had to have told him. But why would he take the time to track me down?

I stare at him wondering what exactly he wants from me. That doesn't last long before I give up the wondering part in favor of just staring.

Can you blame me?

Long red hair flowing over broad shoulders, that taper down to lean hips. He changed out of his school clothes. The black slacks he now wore molded to him like a second skin and revealed surprisingly long and muscular legs. He wore a plain white button down shirt with the top couple of buttons undone, revealing warm golden skin. His sharp green eyes seemed more intense than ever, almost as though they are reflecting the deep green of the grass and trees around him. Hey was the grass that green a second ago? Hm…

But it's more than just the physical beauty, that captures my eyes. Although don't get me wrong that certainly doesn't hurt. There is a casual confidence to his movements, a graceful, almost animalistic like quality, as he lightly treads along the path towards the door. He is a man completely at home in his own body, and in the environment he is in. Kurama quite simply belongs here like this, surrounded by trees and flowers. There is a connection than seems to flow between him and the very ground he is walking along, a sharing that is deeper than words.

He is absolutely magnificent.

And if the look he is giving me is any indication he is completely aware of it. It would seem that he is quite accustomed to being shamelessly ogled. Ok, so with that thought, now would be a wonderful time to remember how to breath. Any second now. Yep… I'm gonna figure it out. Just give me a sec-ah there we go!

"Well you look right at home. Nature quite suits you, really. You don't look nearly so impressive at school as you do right now, you know that?" I cock my head to the side. His step falters a second as he walks to the door. Apparently that wasn't the response he was expecting. I nod to myself.

Good.

I simply hate to be predictable.

"Now what hell are you doing here?"

Definitely not the response he was looking for. But he's quick about gathering himself, I'll give him that. He gives me this slow melting smile, and the silver merges with him. Oh that should be bottled for sure. I feel my hands twitch as I tamp down the desire to run my hands through his silky hair to see if I would be able to feel the fuzzy ears that just twitched. Oh Kami, why does he have to have those ears? They're just sooo adorable!

As far as I'm concerned ears on a guy are like wings on a guy for my friend. How did she put it? Oh yes, 'He has such a large… _wingspan_!' Heh, I'll bet. Or if we're talking about a completely human model of male, it would be an accent. You get two males who are about the same level of cuteness with about the same style of clothing and I'll definitely look at the guy with the accent. I can't help it really. It's just that little something extra that is just a total turn on. But fuzzy ears are a particular weakness of mine. The fuzziness will win out every time in my book. Oohh they moved again!

Oops, he was talking to me.

"What did you just say?"

He's giving me a funny look now.

"Are you ok?" he asks in his quiet voice.

Me? I just got distracted because you flickered and then they twitched, and everything just went downhill from there.

"I'm fine. I was thinking about something else. Now what were you saying?"

"I was telling you that I work for Koenma, and he's assigned me to protect you during this case."

Case? Well that explains a lot now. He's one of Koenma's spirit detectives. Hm, interesting. They usually try to get their hands on the most elite fighters, with the purest hearts and the greatest potential. Aww I feel so special!

"Koenma," I pause to capture his eyes with my own, "is a dork." With that I turn to go back inside, leaving the door open for him to follow or not as he saw fit.

What do you know? He followed.

Yeah so that was yesterday.

I can see why Koenma chose Kurama to be the one to keep me out of trouble. He is an entertaining companion. I spent the entire day dodging his subtle attempts to get information. He was good too. Also, once you get past the 'perfect schoolboy' façade he actually has a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. Terribly amusing as he is, however, my son is out there in the hands of a psychotic demon who happens to hate my guts and wants me dead.

Now I know logically that Shippou has only been gone a day and as such I can't expect that he has been saved yet. That would be asking a lot. But still, there's no way I can just sit around and wait. I hate waiting. Simply not happening. Of course I can't go to the Makai to get my son that would be breaking the deal I made with Koenma. But still… that doesn't mean I can't go to the Makai for another reason. Like visiting relatives! I wonder how Fluffy and Rin are doing? Haven't seen them in quite some time.

Perfect! I'll just slip out real quick and I'll be gone before he knows it. It's five o'clock now. If I hurry I may even make it to the Makai in time for supper. With that thought in place I grab some money from my backpack and shove it into my pocket. I run my hand along my leg as I do so. I just can't help it, I love feely stuff. They remind me of his ears… This can't be good.

Just so you know it's not weird that I'm doing this, I'm wearing my pair of fuzzy black pants. You know the kind of material that you rub one way and it feels all rough and then you rub it another way and it's all soft and feely. Although I doubt Kurama's silverness's fur goes in the same direction. I bet the fuzzy on his ears goes down, while the fuzzy on my pants goes up.

Oh my God!

I'm wearing feel me up pants!

Oh my God!

Not only am I wearing feel me up pants, I realized I was wearing feel me up pants while contemplating Kurama.

Shut up brain! I'm going to go to Makai to visit the family and you are not going to say another word. So there!

I walk out the door, satisfied that I have shown my wayward mind it's proper place. Now thinking of Kurama, where is the man? I can't see him anywhere and he seems to be suppressing his ki. Wait! No thinking! Thinking is bad! I pause by a tree and gaze around. Looks like the red head has been a busy boy. Somehow the plant life all around looks greener, and healthier. There aren't tangles of weeds hidden amongst the flowers any more. The place looks completely breathtaking. I don't think I've ever seen the land around here look so well tended, and yet completely wild all at once.

I turn back to leave and find my way blocked by an arm that is braced against the tree I am standing next to. I allow my eyes to trail along the muscled appendage, tracing over the silver strands that fell across his strong shoulders and neck. I feel a sinking sensation in my stomach as my eyes continue along their path, over the sensually curved lips and high cheek bones before skidding to a halt at the sight of the hooded golden orbs. The look in his eyes makes a shiver go down my spine.

This is stupid.

I can't fall into lust with the guy. I just met him officially the other day, even if I have been watching him carefully for the past couple of months.

"Where do you think you're going?" his deep voice asks me. He takes a step closer and I try to back away, but I feel the rough bark of the tree behind me and I realize that he has me trapped. Is it just me or did the temperature suddenly rise? He gives a quiet, satisfied growl, and the corner of his mouth kicks up in an incredibly sexy half grin.

Don't you look at me like you're mama doesn't feed you!

"Where'd Kurama go?" I ask mildly, forcing myself not to stiffen up under his gaze. Arrogant male. I won't give him the satisfaction. He seems to realize what I'm thinking. His ears flick in amusement. My eyes are drawn upwards at the motion. _Fuzzy ears! _And they're so much _bigger_ than Inuyasha's were! They're mocking me! I'm sure of it!

"My human half is here. He's just… taking a break. We've been working around here." His ears aren't moving anymore. Damn. But something else is. What the? Is that a tail? I never noticed that before. Apparently I haven't taken nearly enough time appraising, ah- appreciat- er…herm. Ah fuck it there no way to make this thought sound nice- I just haven't spent nearly enough time staring at his ass. There! I said it! Well, thought it. Whatever! I hope whatever lord of cosmic jest who is putting me through this is enjoying the show. And they'd better hope I _never_ find out who they are!

Of course if I'm going to be in this situation then why not take advantage of the opportunity? I could probably have thought of several reasons if I hadn't ordered my brain to be quiet a minute ago. I wish I had thought of that before I decided not to think. Instead of stopping to carefully think about it, I reach up and indulge myself. Oh yeah. Gotta love the ears.

"So I see. Tell me something. What are you exactly? I mean I know you're a youkai but what kind of youkai are? You have ears like Inuyasha but you have a tail like Fluffy, and they're dog demons. Are you like a different breed of dog?" Ok that was really a stupid thought. Kind of scary too. I mean what if there are a bunch of little demon Chihuahuas running around and they are even now plotting to take over the world? Poodles are evil, so we'd be on our guard against them. But Chihuahuas?

"I'm not a dog. I'm a silver kitsune, and you may call me Youko."

The vibrations Youko's purrs were sliding through me, almost rattling my teeth as he settled himself more comfortably against me. I realized that I was still massaging his furry ears and I quickly jerked my hands away. _Is he sniffing me? _I could feel the muscled outline of his body pressing into me, and he was returning the favor of my petting by doing some petting of his own. Eeep! He just _felt me up_! Hey! My pants are not an excuse to go around -

Whatever I was about to think next was completely derailed when he started to lick my neck. My head fell back against the tree, and he traced a path along my jaw up to the corner of my mouth where he planted a single feathery kiss. And stopped to look at me with a mischievously expectant grin. Oh he is evil! I give him the glare of DEATH!

Stop teasing me damn it!

I felt myself getting yanked against him fully. Man if I thought I could feel him before- oh my! And suddenly he swooped in and captured my lips in a mind numbing kiss. His tail wrapped itself around my waist, holding me captive. I found myself helplessly moaning as he quite thoroughly explored my mouth. I don't know how long the kiss lasted. An eternity, an instant. I never wanted it to end. Although you know eventually this exquisite feeling is going to have to stop so we can breath again. Then again…

Oxygen is probably overrated.

He broke the kiss.

I can't believe it! I whimpered when he stopped. How undignified can you get?

We stood there panting, staring at each other, trying to regain our breath. And in my case, the ability to coherently string words together. I can say with complete sincerity that I was totally shocked when he started to laugh.

What's so funny?

"So responsive, little miko. How delightful! How can you possibly want to leave when there is so much that we can continue to do here?" I feel like a bucket of ice was thrown over my head. How can I plan on leaving indeed?

I allowed my temper free reign. "I can leave because I'm hungry and I'm going to get some food! You can come if you want but you'd better put Red back in charge because I don't think they allow pets where I'm going!" I spat, shoving him out of my way and opened a portal. I almost felt bad about the look of stunned disbelief on his face at my words. Almost.

The air crackled dangerously around me when he tried to grab my arm. "_Don't even think about it!_" I hissed in rage. I was practically shaking in barely suppressed fury. How dare he?!

I stepped through the portal and he followed me, transforming into the more familiar and less threatening Shuuichi model along the way. I ignore his pleading to know what's wrong. I walk out of the alley I had teleported us to and into the American style restaurant I had decided on when I realized I couldn't go to the Makai because he'd tell Koenma, or try to stop me.

As soon as I stepped foot into the softly lit restaurant, the host took one look at my face and silently led me to a dim corner booth away from the crowd. Kurama followed quietly. He didn't say a word, merely stared at me with a hurt sort of confusion, with just a hint of anger underneath. Neither of us spoke except to give the waiter our order.

Our server's name was Rick. Actually his name was Ricardo; he's a foreign exchange student from Spain. Before you get curious, the reason I know that is because I own this restaurant and I hired him. He's one of my best people in this place. I'm rather glad he's our server right now. He's one of those people who just have a calming presence. I feel like I need that right now. Actually I know I need that right now.

"Shuuichi-san!"

My head jerked around and I stared at the girl who had miraculously appeared by our table. So much for calming presences. Hm, black hair, big doe like eyes and a curvy figure that was cleverly displayed. I can almost see the anime-esque bubbles and sparkles appear around her as she stares at him with shiny eyes.

For one crazy second I was tempted to tell her she wasn't his type. After all she wasn't his assignment at the moment now was she? And she wasn't trying to get away from him so there was no need for him to use his charms to try and distract her. How dare he try to use my attraction to him against me?!

_Bastard! _I am not just a fucking job!

My eyes narrowed in remembered annoyance. And how dare she interrupt my icy fit of justified displeasure?!

Bitch! Are you too stupid to notice there's a murderously rage-filled female sitting right here?

"I'm so glad to see you! I didn't expect you to be here!" Okay, so apparently she is.

She acted as if she had finally noticed me, "Oh who is this? Is she your sister?" Ah yes, I remember this girl now. I couldn't think of her name and honestly I don't care what her name is. She's the head of his fan club. Definitely stupid if she can't recognize the 'gay transvestite' of the school. She should. After all she was among the more vicious in the rumor mill who were bashing me.

"No she's not," I spoke with a smile that could compete with an arctic winter before Kurama could respond. I flicked a challenging look at him before focusing on the girl, "And before you ask, no she's not his girlfriend and no this isn't a date. She has no prior claim on him so if he decides to take you on the table the only thing she would be able to do is suggest you get a room, or barring that, to skooch over a bit so she can have room to eat when her food arrives. And speaking of food, you're blocking our waiter."

Kurama gaped at me as if I had sprouted another head. Ricky was trying manfully to choke back his laughter. The fan girl was staring at me with a glazed expression and her face was almost the same shade as Kurama's hair. I've done a good deed! How special, I've just given her a mental image that she can treasure for the rest of her life. Feeling almost pleased with myself I grab a fork and start digging in.

Man, am I hungry!


	11. Chapter 10

Thanks to all of my reviewers: MikoSnow GodessMe, Skittles2xtreme, Sundragon, black kaze Kitsune, Egyptianlover, Midnight001, ChibiKitsuneChanAtari, Kurama no Miko2003, Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe, Kurama and Hiei's lovable miko, Keala-Chick, Youkaihime, The Black Kat, AzalynAngel, Ichigo, Kikitravel, Star Silver fox, LLJade, DemonLady1, CrimsonBlades16, k, d, kagome-angel2000, Blades of the Sun, Artemis the Goddess, Ivan's Kitsune, ForestSprite, FanFicFanatic, ColdFang, KagomeYasha4448, kagome11492

And an extra special thanks to Grimsister, who is overly obsessive about wings and the wing statement in last chapter was one of her sayings ( I forgot to mention that earlier). I was thinking of her obsession with wings when I was giving Kagome a thing for fuzzies. BTW, you should check out some of her stuff on , she's so much better than I am. I especially love her Morwyn story. Morwyn ROCKS!

Shippou's POV

**Chapter 10**

The day started out fine. It was going so good. I got up, jumped on my mama to wake her up for school, ate breakfast with grandma and grandpa, and messed with Souta until my zombified mother joined the living. Regular morning stuff, right? Then we all left to walk to school.

But that's when everything went down hill.

When we got to school all of a sudden Souta and I were surrounded by these demons! Big ugly ones! Actually they weren't really big when I think about some of the demons I've seen, but they were still ugly! And they smelled nasty! I mean sheesh! Do you think it would kill them to bathe once in a while? Then the ugliest one grabbed me and hauled me through a hole in the barrier. Oooh, Mama is _not_ gonna be happy about that!

So there I was getting dragged along by my tail, of all things, to some random fort in the middle of freaking nowhere! And the stupid man is ignoring me! When I try to chew or scratch him he just shakes me and that made me bite my tongue. And he won't let me use my fox fire. Last time I did that he dropped me on my head and then yanked me up into the air by my tail again. I glare evilly up at him. Well as evilly as you can when you're hanging upside down and getting jounced around like a sack of potatoes. I like to think I pulled it off very well considering. The man doesn't know what is going to hit him!

I've seen your face! I'll draw a picture of it so I won't forget! You may have stolen my pouches but I'm a fox, and you'll learn not to mess with my tail soon enough! I will have my revenge! Just you wait… I continue to go on in this vein for quite some time until he yelled at me to shut up and threatened to bash my head against the next jagged rock we come to. He doesn't have to be so rude. Honestly, it's not enough that he's kidnapping me, he has to threaten me too?

Jerk.

I settle into a good sulk. There's nothing better to do until we get to this big stone compound. It's really dark and creepy. Right up there with Naraku's wandering castle. Oh man, this place isn't going to wander around is it? It'll take forever for anyone to find me if it does.

The demon takes me inside and I get unceremoniously dumped into a cell. It's a good thing I'm a youkai or I'd be covered in bruises by now. I don't know how long I was in the cell. Long enough that by the time they brought me food I was hungry enough to eat it, even if it tasted kinda funny. They have a bad cook that's all I gotta say. I want my mommy!

No, I have to be strong and get out of here so I can get back to mama. You can do this Shippou! Just think. Now if I were mama what would I do? Oh well I'd just purify everyone. Nope, that won't work. Ok, if I were Inuyasha- wait no that won't help me either. Sango was a demon exterminator, dealing with those guys she probably wouldn't have gotten caught at all. Hm… what if I were Miroku? What would he do in this situation? He'd try to smooth talk his way out. But that's not an option. So he'd try a con or try to use his tricks to get out. Yep! But how does that thought help you?

Think Shippou!

Ok so here's your situation. you've been fox napped by a stupid smelly demon for reasons unknown. You're in a cell off in Kami knows where. You don't have your pouches with your toys or leafs. You're all alone with no way to contact anyone outside.

Wait a minute! I'm all alone… and they never thought to check my tail! In the words of Souta, WOOT! That means I still have the pouch with summoning stones that Rin gave me! Rin is a shadow sorceress so she's good at spells and stuff. She gave me this bag of stones that hold various items inside them that can be activated with the right word, and can then be sent back with another one. And I have tricks and stuff! Rin and Mama both also taught me a couple of spells that they've been making me work on. Only simple stuff of course, and none of it could be used here. But still the stones may have something I can work with.

I love these stones! I can whip some of those out and see if there's anything that'll help me to get out of here! Oh happy dance! Ok that's enough tail wagging there. Time to see what I got. I toss down the first stone.

Eh? It's one of those umberlla thingies, the humans use to go out in the rain. It's only rained once since I've been here so I don't see those very often. Nope. That's not gonna help me. Let's see what else I have- oh a sleeping bag. That'll be useful, but probably not right now. What else? Chemicals? Hey these are the ones mama got me when I started taking pictures with her and Rin! Yeah but she said they weren't really dangerous. So not much use there. What about this one? Hey! Herbs! In _leaf _form!

Score!

I send everything I've gotten out back to their stones. Now to figure out the best way to use the leafs. Hm. Simple block cell, wooden door without cracks and no bars to slip through though. Hey, there's a hole behind the chamber pot, but even in my natural form I'm too big… so something smaller I think would work. I grab a leaf and stick it onto my head and change into a small floating pink bubble.

Eww. Good thing I'm floating.

Float!

Man this is boring. I hope I come to an opening before my transformation wears off. I don't want to even _think_ about whatever this slimy stuff is. Doop a doop. Hey, what's that over there? An opening! It's about time. I edge over to the opening and look out carefully to make sure that no one else is around. Nope, no one there. Looks like a bare room with a wooden door with out cracks and no bars to slip through. Oh don't tell me I came out of one prison cell only to end up in another one! Crap! Back into the hole I go. This is going to be a long day isn't it?

Awwaaaaayyy!

Hehe, I like that song.

What's this room supposed to be? Hey! My bags! Uh oh. There's someone watching the stuff. I'll have to figure out how to get rid of him to get my things back. Ooh someone else is coming. Maybe this'll give me a chance to… They're leaving! suckers! All I have to do now is run over and- got it! Alright! I'm so gone! I use my leaf to transform into the demon that had caught me and brought me here. Ick. Do you have any idea how gross I've just become?

But on to more important matters. Getting out, and hopefully doing so in a manner that will cause these guys a lot of trouble. But where to start? I walk out the door and into the hall, carefully looking to make sure that there was no one around. Ok no one. That's it just slide into the hallway and walk around like you own the place. That's it. Wait were there any particular hitches in rhythm to the way I was being jounced around? No, there wasn't anything unduly noticeable to it so he doesn't have a limp or anything that would obviously be off. Ok so just strut along like a typical demon who thinks he owns the world.

I've been wandering around forever! Don't these guys believe in a map? I've had to duck into shadows and around corners a couple of times to avoid getting noticed but there haven't been too many close shaves. I wonder what a shave is? And I wonder why there aren't more guards around? That's not normal. I guess the next time I see some demons talking I'll have to risk someone trying to talk to me to find out what's going on. And what do you know? I'm about to get my chance.

"Hey Reisan! What are you doing wandering around down here? Haven't you heard there's been a break in?!"

"No I haven't heard! What's going on?!" I snap out, hoping they won't notice just how much higher 'Reisan's' voice has become. Hehehe! He's going through puberty! Fortunately, they're too stupid to notice. As long as I keep things simple I should be fine.

Wait a minute! A break _in_? Not a break out? So they don't know about me yet?

"Well they say there are some intruders. They aren't sure how many. They think whoever it is has come for the kid. And they don't think they've gotten past the first level of the compound. All of the guards are supposed to be fanned out looking for him up there."

"Do you know anything else?" Please say yes, please say yes.

"Nope. But you'd better hurry!"

"Right." I walk away trying to act all tough and manly. How exhausting. I don't know how adults do it.

Aw man! Now I have to figure out where the first level of this place is. I open the first door I come to and slip inside after glancing in to make sure that no one else was inside. Now what kinda room is this? It's like I'm on a sort of walkway, and there's a rail around a square hole in the center of the room. There are a bunch of pipes and gears along the walls, and some rusted chains. Hey the ceiling is all blue and moving! Ooh, that's not the ceiling tat's blue and moving. I stare over the side of the railing. Wow…

I feel evil. Very very evil.

I can't stop the wicked smile that spreads across my face. This is gonna be so _coooool_! I wish Souta could be here right now. He would really appreciate this! I take out my summoning stones and dig around for the dark blue one. As I 'open' the stone I begin to chant one of the simple spells I've been taught. This one is an amplification spell. Basically Mama uses it to amplify the effects of her healing spells since she's not really a healer. But I'm using it to amplify something else completely! I can't keep from giggling maniacally as I dump the item over the rail.

Now that that is done… time to split!

I rush out of the room and down the hall. I find some stairs and race up them, hoping that I had been imprisoned below the first level. Man that would really be bad if I hadn't been. I see some other guys running around up ahead. Maybe I'm getting closer to where I'm supposed to be. Suddenly my rush is halted when I get slammed into a wall by someone. A blade is pressed against my neck and I stare into the cold red eyes that glare at me over the dully glinting silver. I can't help the whimper I let out when I see the look in his eyes.

"Kitsune," he speaks in a frozen emotionless voice as he addresses me. "There is a child in this fortress. You will take me to him now. You will not try any of you pathetic fox tricks. And you will not try to escape or alert any of the other guards. Or I will slay you now. Understand?"

Realization hits me. This is the guy that Mama had sent to save me. Wow, he's pretty ruthless!

I retransformed, and hung there from where he held me against the wall. "My mama is Kagome Higurashi, Protector of the Shikon no Tama and the Incarnation of the Barrier between worlds. You must be the person who Koenma sent to save me! Hi!" I remember what I just did a minute ago. "And we need to get out of here. Right now!"

"She's the _what_?!"

His gaze sharpens as he too hears what I already know about. "What is that noise?" There's a loud rumbling that rolls through the thick stone walls.

"I'll explain it to you later! We need to hurry! Let's go!" He gives me a searching look and nods curtly, sheathing his katana. Everything blurs and I cling to his arm. Somehow the knowledge that the only thing between me and hitting the ground at high velocities is his loose grip on my shirt is not reassuring. He pauses to shift me onto his back. Somehow the knowledge that the only thing between me and hitting the ground at high velocities is my death grip on his shirt is even less reassuring.

We run through a crowd of demons and he quickly slices them, almost before they even realize that we're there. Man he is good. Fast too. We make it out of the compound right before a wave of white bubbles crashes through the front gates carrying a screaming horde of unsuspecting demons in its wake. He keeps running until we hit high ground, completely safe from the water pouring onto the surrounding plain. He stops to stare. I too was staring- to admire my handy work. I told you I'd get my revenge didn't I? Mwahahaha! Feel the wrath of a fox!

"What just happened down there?"

"Oh that? Well there's a lovely chemical the ningens use to develop film for their pictures called photo flo. When I came across the water supply for the fort I dropped a whole bottle inside, that had an amplification spell on it. Accidentally of course."

"Of course." I grinned at his sarcastic agreement.

"Well, problem is they draw their water in from an outside source and pumped through the plumbing system. So that means their supply of water is in a constant state of agitation. It just so happens that photo flo is a rather extreme foaming agent, especially if you consider the extra kick it had from the spell. Their pipes flooded when the water began to agitate the chemical and there was enough water stored there to flood the entire building." I scratched my ear thoughtfully with my hind leg since mama isn't around to see. "Course it's not like they even seemed to use the water very much anyways and the chemical probably cleaned the water storage tank. Sooo, they'll thank me eventually!"

"Hn." He raises an eyebrow and turns away, and starts to quickly move across the land towards a portal. He's really quiet. But he seems so cool!

"You don't talk much do you? I'm Shippou, who're you?"

"My name is Hiei."

"What kinda demon are you?"

"Fire."

"Oh. So are you mated?"

"No."

"Do you wanna be mated?" He gives me a funny look. But he's here to save me so I figure odds are good he's not going to kill me for asking annoying questions.

"No"

"Do you have any pups?"

"No."

"Do you wanna have pups?"

"No." Darn. That means the odds of him being my new dad are slim. Still…

"What's your favorite color?" I ask him.

"Black."

"Black isn't a color technically speaking."

"Shut up."

"Why are wearing a bandage on your arm?"

"Shut up."

"Is that white star in your hair natural?"

"Yes. Now shut up."

"Teach me something!"

"No."

"You're kinda small. How old are you?"

"Tell me about your mother," he ordered. I know he's just trying to distract me but he's asking me about mama so I can't really complain. I got excited and launched into how I met mama and started jumped back and forth across his shoulders as I got deeper into my story.

"Three years ago my father was killed by these demons who called themselves the Thunder Brothers. A girl from the future and a hanyou who she was traveling with at the time came along and saved me from them.ThenIstartedtravelingwiththemandshetreatedmelikeherowncubandeverythingbutshewasfromthefuturecuzshefellintoawellandsoshekepthavingtoleavetoherowntimeandshewouldgetintoargumentswiththestupiddoghanyouwhowouldneverlethergohomebecausehealwaysinsistedshewashissharddetectorbecausetheywerelookingfortheshardfortheShikonnoTamasincethatshebroketokeepawayfromademonandthenwemetthispervertedmonknamedMirkouwhowasalwaystryingtofeeleveryoneup_andthenSangojoinedthegroupandshewasademonexterminatorbuttheyallhatedNarakuandhewastryingtogetthejewelshardsandthenKikyocamebacktolifeandkepttryingtotokillKagomeandrun**offwithInuyashaandtheshardsandthenandthenandthenandthen-" **_

"Ch. Sorry I asked."

Translation: Then I started traveling with them and she treated me like her own cub and everything but she was from the future cuz' she fell into a well and so she kept having to leave to her own time and she would get into arguments with the stupid dog hanyou who would never let her go home because he always insisted she was his shard detector because they were looking for the shards for the Shikon no Tama since that she broke to keep away from a demon and then we met this perverted monk named Mirkou who was always trying to feel everyone up _and then Sango joined the group and she was a demon exterminator but they all hated Naraku and he was trying to get the jewel shards and then Kikyo came back to life and kept trying to kill Kagome and run **off with Inuyasha and the shards and then and then and then and then-" **_


	12. Chapter 11

…Yeah so anyways thanks for reviews goes to: Kurama no Miko2003, ady anhee 999, ScottishFae, Karama, Sundragon, Skittles2xtreme, Egyptianlover, Nagasaki, AnimeALLday, ColdFang, Ivan's Kitsune, Keala-Chick, lady-anheleta-of-darkness, Serena SilverMoon, Artemis the Goddess, Houndingwolf, bloodbunny, CrimsonBlades16, DemonLady1, Ichigo, BlackWolfFenrir, Marieka, Star Silver fox, and LLJade.

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 11 **

I couldn't help but notice that something was wrong as soon as the words left Youko's mouth. Kagome stilled and the temperature around her dropped to below freezing. She gazed at me with a pained and betrayed expression before her face hardened. I didn't understand what the sudden problem was.

"I can leave because I'm hungry and I'm going to get some food! You can come if you want but you'd better put Red back in charge because I don't think they allow pets where I'm going!" she spat at me before shoving me away and stalking past. I stood there unmoving. I hadn't expected such a viscous attack from her.

_/She certainly hadn't been complaining while the kiss was happening./ _Youko whispered bitterly in the back of my mind. He retreated.

_Gone to lick your wounds? _I asked, although sympathetically rather snidely. After all she had just slammed me too with that. My words were met with injured silence. I waited for it.

_/Why?!/_

_I don't know. _I admitted. _She seemed fine when we were kissing her. Perhaps what you said made her recall something else and she struck out at us because of it?_

_/What thought could possibly have made her suddenly hate us?/_

_Maybe she thought of her son's father. Maybe she felt disloyal to him by allowing us to kiss her. _I bit my lip as I thought of that. I hadn't even asked her if he was still around, and Youko was too busy overwhelming her to consider that.

_/We never did find out what happened to him./ _Youko agreed thoughtfully. _/It may not have had anything to do with us. Well you're the sensitive one. Find out what's wrong with her. She's broken. Fix her so we can keep playing!/ _ I shook my head disparagingly at his arrogant command before I trailed after her, trying to ask her what was wrong.

Youko sure is quick to recover.

_/Wait! What if she was just toying with us?/ _Youko demanded, suddenly sparking back to life in the back of my mind with anger at even the thought. _ /We will have to correct that, make sure she knows who is in charge!/_

_I told you. We won't know what is wrong with her until she's calmed down. _With that reminder I tuned out Youko. I held my silence and watched her aura flair dangerously around her. Definitely waiting until she's in a better mood.

Note to self: when she's not contemplating killing me ask her just how she does the portal thing. That could definitely come in handy if I can learn it.

I looked around the restaurant she had led us to. It was a nice one that just shouted 'Quietly Affluent'. The host didn't seem especially surprised to see her but he did seem to catch the undercurrent of her mood. Without speaking he lead us to a dimly lit corner away from the rest of the customers and left us with a couple of leather bound menus. Kagome still hadn't said a word to us. The silent treatment. Fun as it is to use on people I can't stand being on the receiving end.

Kagome softened a bit at the sight of our waiter who introduced himself as Ricardo. I had to keep myself from snarling at the inoffensive man who spoke our language with a smooth rolling accent, that made everything he say seem almost sensual. I eyed him critically, I suppose most females would consider him handsome. I didn't even know the guy and I already hated him. Him and his raven locks tumbling around his warm tan face and his dark eyes that lingered far too long on Kagome.

She actually smiled at him!

He didn't even do anything to deserve to be smiled at. And he smiled back! How dare he smile at her like that?! He turned to get my order and he gave me a knowing look when he saw the expression on my face. I felt a growl building in the back of my throat, and when my order came out it was in a deeper voice than Shuichi was ever known for. I know my eyes stared to glow gold when _Ricardo _took a quick step back. He hurried away with our request.

That'll show him for going around flashing his disgustingly white teeth at my mate!

Whoa! Hold up there! Where the_ **hell** _did that come from? I mean yeah she's pretty, and very powerful, and yes she'd defend any cubs we have with everything at her disposal, but do I really mean mate? I've only officially known her for a couple of days. And what about her kid, and his dad? I don't even know the whole situation, how can I even consider- I mean- We just met!

_ We are in trouble._

_/Tell me about it. I would have killed another person for daring to speak to me as she did, and yet I spared her. And oddly, I still want her. Perhaps more than before./ _

Then to add to an already touchy situation one of those girls who is always flocking around me shows up at our table. This one is named Yari, and she one of my most persistent stalkers, er admirers.

"Shuuichi-san!"

Oh this is so not happening to me!

"I'm so glad to see you! I didn't expect you to be here!" I almost gag at the syrupy sweet smile that she levels at me. She is still smiling when she turns her attention to Kagome, but her eyes take on a more devious edge as they appraise my dinner companion. You know demons speak of Youko Kurama's coldly calculating nature with hushed voices. But I'm convinced that they are in awe of his personality only because they've never encountered a scheming ningen female before in their life, let alone been surrounded by them constantly. If I ever return to the Makai I can take coldly calculating to a whole new level.

"Oh who is this? Is she your sister?"

I gather myself to politely point out that she's completely aware that I have no other siblings. In fact she probably knows my full name, address, birth date, social security number, and what kind of underwear I'm wearing at this instant.

Yes I know what you're thinking.

It's entirely probable that I seem overly paranoid when dealing with fan girls, but I'm really not. It is incredible what you think no one could possibly know that one of 'them' somehow find out about. I've found it's safer to enter any conversation with a female with the assumption that they know everything, and that they are just trying to trap you into admitting what they already know- which just happens to be everything.

I'm about to open my mouth when Kagome cuts in with a chilling smile.

"No she's not. And before you ask, no she's not his girlfriend and no this isn't a date. She has no prior claim on him so if he decides to take you on the table the only thing she would be able to do is suggest you get a room, or barring that, to skooch over a bit so she can have room to eat when her food arrives. And speaking of food, you're blocking our waiter."

I can feel the stunned expression stealing over my face as she calmly starts eating her food.

Yari is just standing there looking like she's about to faint. Ricardo is in the background quietly laughing at the entire scene.

Could someone just shoot me now?

Damn it! Now he knows that she's not officially claimed and he's going to try to get her, I know it! I glare warningly at him when he places my plate in front of me. I give a helpless smile to the red faced girl who doesn't seem to know how to respond. Having done all I cared to do to diffuse the situation I turn my attention to my own plate and start mechanically eating as I replay the entire fucked up day starting with the kiss through my mind.

Now that I think about it, everything has been pretty fucked up ever since Kagome entered the whole picture.

And why can't I bring myself to hate her for it?

She left me!

I feel myself beginning to fume.

I can't believe Kagome finished eating and then left me there alone to deal with that obnoxious slut! The sheer audacity! I mean first I had to de-latch Yari from my arm, and convince her that I couldn't go to a movie because I had to get back to work. The bitch even had the nerve to imply that if I stayed with her that I would get more than a movie. She was hitting on me while the guy who had brought her was sitting at their table all alone.

I took her poor date aside when he went to pay their bill and told him to keep her. I wanted to smack him when he went all googly eyed and said, "I know!" in a voice of puppy worship.

"No. I mean I want you to keep _her_ away from_ me_."

I found out that Kagome had already paid for us and I made my escape while boy genius was trying to figure out what I meant. Then I had to get a ride clear across town and walk the rest of the way out to the house in the middle of freaking nowhere!

And to top it all off, I still don't know what it is Idid _wrong _besides kiss her without permission!

She is gonna hear about this! I'm sick of trying to figure out just what the hell is going on in that pretty head of hers! I mean how on earth am I supposed to apologize when I don't even know what I'd be apologizing for? And why should I apologize for that? I enjoyed it, she enjoyed and if there was something morally wrong about it I was unaware of it! So she can't blame me!

But she is! I don't get it!

That thought made my temper flare again. It just wasn't fair!

I walked up to the house searching for her ki as I stalked in the front door. She was up stairs. I made my way to where I felt her energy and I flung open the door.

"Just what the hell is wrong with y-ugngghah…"

I'm sure I looked quite stupid standing there gawking at her.

Kagome calmly gazed at me before tossing down the towel she had been drying her hair with. She then pulled her robe on, hiding her exposed body from my sight. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your take of the situation, that glimpse of her bared skin was forever engraved on my memory. Was that a black dragon mark on her left hip and thigh? I wonder if she'd purify me if I asked for a closer look at it.

She didn't say a word to me. She opened a drawer and tossed what appeared to be a satin nightgown inside and pulled out something else I didn't quite get a good glimpse of. Then she silently walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I was still rooted in my spot when she walked back into the bedroom.

I felt my lips twitch when I saw what she had changed into. It wasn't enough to make me forget what I had just seen, but I give her full credit for almost succeeding in finding something that could.

Kagome was wearing what had to be the ugliest pair of oversized tartan flannel pajamas that were a rather unhealthy mixture of pink and chartreuse. The buttons of the top came all the way up to her neck and every last one of them was buttoned. Her sleeves were rolled up to what would have been the elbows on someone the right size for the pajamas and they slipped down over her hands. The bottoms too were rolled up and even with that her toes barely peeked from beneath the edges.

I had to choke back a laugh as I stared at her standing there engulfed in her shapeless nightclothes. Her arms were crossed defensively under her well shaped breasts. Her hair fell down her back except for a few stray strands that curled damply around her lightly flushed face. Her chin was angled in challenge and her eyes glinted, dared me to say even one word. I'm sure when she chose this outfit that she had been trying to discourage me, but what she didn't seem to realize is despite the monstrosity that she was wearing she just looked so adorable.

At that instant I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and cuddle her.

And then unbutton that horrible shirt and carefully slide it off her shoulders, tossing it away so that I could gaze at her unhindered. Then I would leisurely peel of her pants, allowing my fingers to trail along her silky legs as I did so. I would place soft feathery kisses all over her face, and then trace a path along her neck and collar bone. Going lower and lower, with agonizing slowness. I would allow my hands to wander along her body, discovering all the places that would cause her to quiver and make pitiful sounds of pleasure. I would explore each and every curve, and before I finished she would be begging me to-

_ Hey! Down boy! We're supposed to be angry at her remember?_

_/Oh yeah… Heh, my bad. Well, hurry up already!/_

I was too caught up in my internal dialogue to notice that the miko had moved over to her bed and was sitting with her blanket pulled up over her legs and her back propped against a pillow. Her head was leaning back against the headboard and she was staring at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Well?" she asked me.

"Well what?" I asked snapped out of my daze by her question.

"I asked you if you wanted to sit down since you're so all fired determined to talk with me before I go to bed."

"Oh," I said intelligently and moved to sit on the edge of her bed. She drew her legs up closer to her body and pulled a pillow into her lap when I sat down. She was glancing at me warily, as if she were afraid I might bite.

_/We may yet!/_

_Shut up! Haven't you gotten us into enough trouble today? _I demanded. He grumbled in the background. I ignored him.

"Could I just ask you one thing?" I turned more toward her.

Kagome cautiously nodded her agreement.

"Why? Why are you so angry at me?" I allowed a pleading note to slip into my voice. I hated myself for that but I desperately needed to know what I did wrong. She seemed upset by my question and she had that 'You act as if you don't know expression' women get on their faces when you've done something incredibly stupid and they expect you to realize why without them even saying a word. And it's going to be something really obscure and completely random that I, as a male, will never have even considered.

I hate dealing with females.

"As if you don't know!" she glared at me from behind her impenetrable shield of cotton encased feathers.

"I _don't _know!" I exclaimed in exasperation. "One minute we were kissing and the next you biting off my head!"

I drag my fingers through my hair in annoyance and am crazily tempted to start tugging at it in frustration. I would have too if I didn't spend so much effort keeping it looking the way it does.

"Honestly how I am supposed to try to have a relationship with someone who's going to randomly blow up for no reason is beyond me. Has anyone ever told you, you have ungodly mood swings? Or were you just wanting to test drive a youkai, and figured one in a human skin was a better deal?" I allowed a note of bitterness to color the last of my response. It was her turn to gawk at me.

Praise Kami! For once I'm not the one off balance tonight!

"You- you jerk!" she sputtered at me in outrage. "How dare you try to turn his around and accuse me off being in the wrong?! Considering that you were the on coming on to ME, I'm not even going to bother pointing out just how stupid it was to even say that I was the one just wanted a fling with you because of your youkai half! And to be quite honest if all I wanted was to get jiggy with a demon I could have any time I wanted before you entered the picture pal! Furthermore- hey! What exactly did you just say?" Her voice suddenly softened and her eyes filled with confusion.

"Er, you have ungodly mood swings?" I repeated helpfully.

"No, not that," her glower promised that she'd address that statement later. I wince, wishing I had thought of something else to repeat. "Before that."

"Oh, I asked how I'm supposed to try to have a relationship with someone who's going to randomly blow up for no reason."

Her brow furrowed as she seemed to consider my words. "Can I ask _you_ something?"

"You never answered me," I pointed out. I relented under her look of annoyance. I just wanted this whole deal over with. "Ask away." She plucked at her blanket and wouldn't look at me.

"Why'd you kiss me?" Her eyes flickered toward me but they didn't seek out mine. She grew still waiting for my response. There was a sudden feel of expectation and time seemed to freeze.

Why did we kiss her?

"Because you were attractive. And because I like you. And… it just seemed natural to do," I floundered as I tried to figure out how to explain to her the concept that as a thief Youko's instincts were to always take what he desired and that he desired her. Well without her taking it personally and trying to kill us.

"That's it? There was no other reason in your head at that instant?" she asked, and her eyes searched my face for something.

"Well, yes actually that's it." I brace myself, positive she was expecting more or something deeper than that. I feel a sense of dread settle in my stomach when she doesn't say anything else. That dread solidifies as I watch her eyes fill with tears. I immediately start apologizing, not sure exactly how to make it up to her.

Honestly there is no winning for a guy.

Needless to say I'm totally floored when she flings herself into my arms, weeping all over and starts apologizing to me.

_Qua?_

_/I don't know what you did, but DAMN that was good./_

"I'm sorry! I just thought that-"

"You thought what?" I murmur, running my hand in soothing circles over her back and wrack my brain to figure out how to make her feel better. I'd rather face a horde of angry youkai than comfort a crying woman. Especially when I still don't have a clue why she's crying.

_/Shut up! We've seen her naked. She's in our lap and she's not angry at us anymore. Why can't you just be content with what we have?/_

"Well I just thought that you realized I was going to try to help my son and that you were just doing that to distract me," she spoke to my chest as she answered me.

I flinch. Understanding flooded me.

She thought I was just using my skills to keep her from protecting her child. She must've thought that she was just a job and that I had no real interest in her as a woman. I can see how she came to that conclusion. After all I had been stupid enough to admit to her that Koenma had ordered me to keep her out of the way by whatever means necessary. And then when Youko cornered her, what he said just reinforced that belief.

I grimaced as I realized just how bad it had looked on my part.

"You know, Koenma did give me an order. But for some reason when I have a gorgeous woman in my arms, I can't quite bring myself to think of my child boss, let alone care what his orders were." I softly smile at her when she looks up at me with a watery grin.

"He'll be heartbroken to hear that," she teased back, swiping at her tears with the back of her hand. I help her out, brushing my thumb along her cheek.

"Somehow I feel as though I can live with that thought."

She grew more serious. "I'm sorry I've been so difficult. And that I was being such a bitch earlier."

"Hn." I can't really protest saying she hadn't been but then again I definitely do not want to be the one to agree with that last statement. She seems to understand what I'm thinking though because she gives me a mock glare before settling back against my chest with a soft sigh.

I stand up with her n my arms and place her down on the bed. And pull the covers up over her. I place a light, chaste kiss on her forehead and then straighten up. She grabs my hand as I turn to leave. I glance down at her in question.

"Could you stay in here tonight? I don't want to be alone…" I understand what she's asking. She wants to be reassured that everything is all right between us. I incline my head and pull of my shoes and socks. I pull back the covers and start to slide in place.

"Un uh! This is my side! You can have the other side of the bed."

"Fine," I grumble as I make my way to the other side of the bed. I settle in beside her and I scoot over to wrap my arms around her. Just so that I don't fall off the side.

_/That's a queen sized bed you loser! Admit it! You just want your hands on her!/_

_Shut up! No one asked you ok?_

_/Hey, I'm not complaining./_

She reached over and shut off the lamp, and cuddled back against me. I really wish she wouldn't wiggle around like that. Good she stopped.

"Night K'rama" she yawned out and gave a final wiggle before she settled down completely.

"Good night K'gome." I suddenly think of something and I realize I'll be wide awake until my curiosity is satisfied.

"Kagome, can I ask you just one more question?"

"What?" her voice is drowsy as she responds. I don't know how she relaxed so much so quickly.

"Where on earth did you get such hideous pajamas?"


	13. Chapter 12

Thanks to all my reviewers so far: Cold Fang, Keala-Chick, Artemis the Goddess, Star Silver fox, Ichigo, Blackfire Hell Demon, Houndingwolf, CrimsonBlades16, Ivan's Kitsune, kagome-angel2000, bloodbunny, Kinky Usagi, The Black Kat, Kitty, Katzztar, Katzztar, Vaz, White Kitsune, Aka Bara, Cassadie, icegirl172, Lillo, tarah, Lillo, Western Mistress, Bekkablair, Bekkablair, Amethyst, Yohko Kurama, Kurama no Miko2003  
Yay! Is soo overcome by reviews that she forgets and swoons again!gets hit by another bus Doh! Gotta stop doing that!

Kagome's POV

**Chapter 12**

If I hadn't been feeling guilty about how I had behaved earlier I would've smacked him for that one. 'Where on earth did you get such hideous pajamas?' indeed! I'll have you know that tartan is stylish. Ok maybe not so much in these particular shades but that's besides the point.

"Kagome?"

Nope, I'm ignoring you.

"Alright then. Goodnight."

Hmph!

How dare he just cuddle up to me and fall asleep like that?! Jerk.

I'm wide awake now. And very aware of how our bodies are fitting together. Almost like we were made for each other. Oh what a stupid thought! How can even have such ridiculous notions? But then again…

What's so ridiculous about it?

In all this time I've seen weirder. Humanity can be quite ridiculous, and so for that matter can demons. But don't tell them that, they don't take it so well. What on earth is it about him that could prompt me to have such thoughts stirring around in the back of my head?

I wonder what time it is? No! No! Bad Kagome! You have to figure this out!

Now what exactly is it I'm feeling for him? Like him? He's a wonderful companion and easy to talk to. Attracted to him? Hell _yes_! But what exactly do I want with him? A friend, a lover, or… perhaps something more? Maybe because I'm back with Shippou and my instinct say he needs a father? And Kurama is the first male to express an interest in me despite my son? Could it be something so simple?

Heh, I love Calvin and Hobbs.

I know that seems completely random but that thought suddenly reminded me of a comic strip where Calvin is yelling for his mom in the middle of the night and she rushes to the room thinking he's having a nightmare or something. The he just looks at her and asks, "Mom, do you think love is a biochemical reaction designed to get our genes passed on?" Then she's all, "I don't know, but whatever it is it's the only thing keeping me from killing you right now."

That strip made me very happy for some reason. It's the small things that make me happy I've discovered.

And _I_ am evading the issue. Focus Kagome!

Ok, so we know we like him as a person, are attracted to him, and that he doesn't seem to mind the thought of Shippou. Either that or he hasn't met him and therefore the reality of my kit hasn't sunk into his mind. I'm letting the guy sleep in my bed after knowing him a couple of days despite the fact that I know he's also a full grown fox demon.

Of all things to arbitrarily invite to my bed. Ye gods what am I thinking?

So we know we trust him. And we know that he is at the very least interested in us. And we- why are we thinking in third person? Too much Fluffy influence I suppose. Anyways we're pretty sure Shippou would like him and accept him as a father figure. And he's a fox. He'd be very helpful raising Shippou if he agreed. All in all, he is perfect.

But is it fair to assume that by 'relationship' he meant something more permanent? I mean he still doesn't know everything about me and Shippou. They haven't even met. Hm. Looks like I'll just have to wait and see how things unfold between them before I make any decisions in regards to the fox… that is currently licking my NE- _AAHHH!!! _

_Ow!ow!ow!ow!ow!ouch!ow!oohnotgood!ow!ow!ow!ow!ow!ow!ow!owie_

Can I say again- ouch! His canines are now embedded in my flesh- right where my neck meets my shoulder. I can feel blood start to dribble down my neck. Oooh he better not get any blood on my sheets! Pale blue satin, can you imagine trying to get the stains out?

Hey! Why'd you bite me? What'd I do to deserve that?

I feel something hard press into my back when he growls and pulls me tighter to him, his claws digging lightly into my flesh. Something's sure making him happy. I turn my head to look at him, and am greeted by the sight of a half transformed Kurama. And he's ASLEEP! I debate with myself whether I should try and wake him up and confront him, or skip the whole waking him up and confronting him in favor of just finding something hard and blunt and beating the shit out of him!

How dare he bite me?! I don't care if he wasn't awake!

When I try to shift my body away his grip tightens around me. The hand on my waist shifts down to my hip as he pulls me more fully against him. And his other hand snakes up to grip my shoulder, his arm pressing between my breasts. Ok, so I'm not moving any time soon. Or breathing for that matter.

I don't believe it! And- wait, what is that smell? Like roses… roses in a midnight storm. It's a wonderful smell. Very passionate and yet… strangely relaxing. Reassuring. Now he's licking me again. And nuzzling me. And I feel so warm and… heavy… eyes are so heavy… safe… I feel myself begin to drift asleep…

The rest of this is all very 'chase me, chase me' and 'catch me, catch me' and all in a rather 'sexy, sexy' way with a slight hint of kinkiness. However because this is you'll never know how much unless you find my story on another site. Try if you reaaaaallly want the rest of it. If you don't really care about the lemoness, that's fine. You can say they calmly slept the rest of the night away dreaming of tropical fish and dandelions. You're version is probably better anyways.

_RING!_

I feel a disappointed sob come from my throat as I snap awake.

_Someone is going to die!_

The phone next to my head is ringing. I glance around trying to gain my bearings. I am lying in my bed, with Kurama wrapped tightly around me. I realize where his hand is when I try to move. He is still asleep but he looks like he might be waking up soon.

Kurama jerks awake at the second ring, and blearily looks around. I give him a pointed look and he realizes exactly where his hand is with an undignified yelp. As soon as he removes it, I roll over and answer the phone. I purposely allow my voice to sound garbled, like I was just woken up so that hopefully who ever was on the other end would never realize that something else completely was going on. I feel my face flush and I avoid looking at my companion as I roll away from him, pulling the covers up over myself.

His horrified sounds of apology in the background would be amusing if I weren't so embarrassed myself. I make a shushing motion with my hand. That and the fact that he is so horrified at the thought of what he did is also kinda insulting. I mean what's wrong with me? What? Aren't I good enough to be seduced in my sleep?

Kami! I did not just think that! I must be more off balanced than I realize if I could be having such stupid thoughts!

I focus on the voice on the other end of the line. Oh it's mom. You know being interrupted in the middle of something like that at all makes you feel uncomfortable. The person interrupting you being you mother makes you feel downright guilty. I never realized that until now.

"Kagome? There you are. I thought this was where you would be! Kagome wake up! There's a nice young man here who brought Shippou back to us! Oh here, you boys just have some more coffee! And cookies!"

"Mom? Shippou! He's safe?! They got him?!"

"Yes, yes, he's back! Well he's a bit, er hyper, but otherwise fine."

"Great! I'll be right over to get him!"

"Oh don't worry about it Kagome! These boys wanted to speak with you so I'm giving them your address. The boy who found him and some of his friends are going to come over and drop little Shippou off! They'll be there in just a bit!"

"Ok then, I'll be waiting! Thanks mom!"

I rushed to the bathroom as soon as I hung up the phone. I don't really want to deal with a guilt ridden male at the moment anyways. When I start to take off my pajamas I realize something really weird. I look closer at my reflection in the mirror. Why is the bite mark on my neck is still slightly bleeding? And just _why_ are all the buttons missing from my shirt?


	14. Chapter 13

Anyways, thanks to my wonderful reviewers, and I apologize again for taking so long. So thanks: lady-minh, Lady MoonShadow1, hen-neko-henshin , Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe, CrimsonBlades16, Keala-Chick, Artemis the Goddess, Ivan's Kitsune, DemonLady1, Kitty, animechickie, Delphine Pryde, jade, Moon-n-Universe-Goddess, The Black Kat, kagome-angel2000, Puppy, Houndingwolf, bloodbunny, Star Silver fox, ColdFang, midnight frost, Ichigo, Angie, Illustrious Sorrow, Grimsister, fresh8, BabyTil14, Arella Hallo, Tygerfyre, silvervail, NightHawk 16, kitsune the vixen, Lady Light, tarah, Akina Tsukana, Nezumi & Lylli Riddle, Black Kitsune, Kurama no Miko2003, RedDragon-210, Amethyst, Midnight001, Skittles2xtreme, kikitravel, dunken, kikitravel, ScottishFae, Karama, S1Cherry, wackoramaco87, ChibiKitsuneChanAtari , Gin Aibu, Zelinko, princessann, Lhiannan-Sidhe, and ScottishFae.

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 13**

I had been avoiding her since waking up with her this morning. As soon as Kagome had left the room I grabbed my belongings and escaped. I was still blushing as I remembered the way in which I had woken up. Not that I had minded it really, but under slightly different circumstances would be preferable. Cough.

/No. No, I'm pretty sure that waking up like that under any circumstances is a great experience./

Hentai!

/What are you going to do about it?/

Vshz! Never mind! We need to make sure she's not going to kill us and then try to do some damage control.

/And sucking up. You can never forget the all important sucking up./

Yeah. That too of course.

We were interrupted from our thoughts by the arrival of the guys. I felt their ki as they neared the house and finally left my room to go down and greet them. I tensed when I stepped out of my door, half expecting to see her, but relaxed again when she wasn't in the hall. Kagome was still upstairs when I slipped out but her ki was drawing nearer so it would only be a while before she arrived as well.

I must admit, whatever I had expected when I walked outside it wasn't the sight that greeted me.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were snickering and casting glances at the tiny Jaganshi. Hiei stood there visibly trembling from what I recognized as him trying to hold himself back. There was a tic in his left cheek right below the eyes and you could almost see him grinding his teeth together. His hand clenched convulsively around his katana. His hair was scattered wildly around his head in a very un-Hiei-like manner, and there was a dangerously gleam in his eyes that in anyone else I would call insane. Around him zipped a russet and green blur that seemed to be chattering at him, but I couldn't quite make out what it was, or what it was saying.

**_"AndhekeptsayingDIEINUYAHSA!AnditallgotverypreticableandIwouldplaywithMamaandRin  
whiletheytriedtokilleachotherandthatwaalwaysinterestingexceptafteritgotboring.JustlikeKougaandInuya  
shawouldalwaysgetintofightsoverKagomebutneitherofthemevencaredwhatshethoughtandtheyjustwantedh  
erasasharddetectorandtheywerejerks!AndIdidn'tlikethemverymuch,wellInuyashawasokmostofthetimeexc  
eptwhenhepickedonmeandmadeKagomecryandIdidn'tlikethatandhewasabigjerkthentoo,onlymoreofajerkt  
hanusualandthenhewouldrunoffwithKikyoandhewasstupidbecauseMamawasbetterthansheeverwas,becau  
semamawastheonewhodefeatedNaraku,exceptifyoueverhearthelegendtheyonlymentionInuyashaandtheon  
lysaythatKagome,that'smamawasaforiegnmikowhojoinedhimandhelpedwhenshewastheonewhoactually  
managedtobeathim!"(1)_**

I stepped out of the way when I heard Kagome running up behind me, without taking my eyes off the seen in front of me. I covered my mouth with my hand to try and keep from laughing at my poor partner. Honestly I wish I had a camera. I have never seen Hiei so flustered, even if it was in an incredibly homicidal sort of way.

"Shippou! Oh you're back! Thank goodness you're safe!"

**_"MAMA!!!!!"_******The blur that was buzzing around Hiei solidified into a ball of fur and launched itself at Kagome. I stared as I realized what Kagome was now cradling in her arms was a kitsune kit!

_/…Her son's a kitsune./_

_…Yeah.__ I had noticed that_

_/…He's a FULL kitsune./_

_…Yeah.__ I had noticed that too._

_/…So he couldn't be her biological son./_

_…So it would appear. _Outside I was composed, but inside I was shocked. Kitsune children are notorious for distrusting anyone outside of their pack. Not only that but they are nearly impossible to get close to as a friend. For one to adopt a _human_ as a mother was nearly unheard of.

_/Not so unheard of after all./_

_Shut up. You aren't a kit and you didn't have a choice._ I turned my attention back to the scene unfolding. Shippou started bouncing up and down excitedly. And his tail was thrashing around wildly, almost too fast for me to follow with my eyes. Kagome stared down at her son when he started to speak, and as he continued she got a funny look on her face.

**_"Mama!Mama!Guesswhat?!Iwaskidnappedbythisbigsmellydemonandhetookmetoafortreetypethingyandt  
hentherewereallthesedemonsandtheyputmeinthiscellanditsoooooBORING!AndthenIrememeberedthepree  
sentRingaveme,yourememberthesummoningstonesdon'tyouMama?AndanywaysIfoundtheminmytailandI  
gotmyleavesandItransformedandIescapeintothistunnelthatwasalleewwwandlikegrossandthenIfloatedaro  
unandfinallyImanagedtoescapeandtransformedintothedemonthathadkidnappedmeandIpouredphotofloint  
otheirwaterandthenImetHiei,andhe'ssoCOOLMama.He'shalffiredemonandhalfkoorime,andhehasamark  
oftheblackdragonandthewhitepartofhishairisnaturalandhehasasisterbuthe'snottellingherhe'shissisterbec  
ausetherewassomeweirdreasonthatIdidn'treallyunderstandbecauseI'mnotanadultandhehatesgettingweta  
ndhelikesicecreamtoo'cepthecallsitsweetsnowandhewasanorphentooexcepthismamakickedhimoffanislan  
dwhenhewasababyandtheycallhimtheForbiddenChildforsomereasonthatIdon'treallyunderstandeitherand  
thenhebroughtmetohereandImethisfriendsYusukeandKuwabaraandYusukeisalikeInuyashaexceptheisn't  
meantomeandhe'salotcoolerthanheeverwasandhelikestobeatthingsupwithhisfistandthenthere'sKuwabara  
who'sokayexceptwhenhefirstsawmehethoughtIwasakittyyoukaiandhe'sabitstupidbuthe'sverysensitiveand  
hewascomplainingaboutmykibeingsohighandkindaseemedfreakedoutforsomereasonbutthatdoesn'tmatter  
verymuch.ButIstillthinkHieiisthecoolestandcanwegivehimashadowstoneandthenwecanadopthimandheca  
nbelikemybrotherorsomethingandIreallylikehim.CanwekeephimMama, _PLEASE_?!"(2)_**

"NO! You _CAN'T_!" Hiei shrieked almost desperately when he heard the last line. Since I didn't understand a word beyond the guy's names and 'can we keep him mama please?' I'm assuming the child was speaking of Hiei. Snicker.

"Looks like the shrimp has a groupie. That kid's gonna be psychotic if he hangs around him though."

"Possibly. Still it's interesting that he's not intimidated by him," Yusuke responded. We all ignored the two, except Hiei who turned his blood red eyes on them. For some reason their amused conversation ground to an abrupt halt.

"Shippou, darling."

**_"YesMama?"_**

"Breath." The kitsune froze for what was probably a millisecond to cock his head to the side before he drew in a deep breath and let it out in an explosive sigh. "Good. Now answer me one thing baby. While you were at the compound did you eat anything?"

**_"Yeah!They broughtmethisweirdfoodthattastedallfunnyandtheircookneedstobeFIRED!"(3)_**

"I see." She pulled the kit closer in a hug. When he buried his face in her neck she looked over his head, and her face hardened into a look of cold fury, even as she reassuringly stroked his back.

_/That's a little scary./_

_For once, I agree. _

Do you know how disturbing it is to realize that a woman can sit there and be all sympathetic while they're secretly plotting to kill someone. It's like when you're little and your mom or some other female in the family is mad at you and they start yelling and the phone rings and they suddenly sound all happy and cheerful when they pick up the receiver. Not that my mother did much yelling but I had this aunt who was all crazy. I mean have you ever heard of Kitty? Yeah my aunt was like that. She could've been a heavy metal female vocalist with the way she could carry on then be all suddenly sweet when the phone rang. Creepy.

"Listen my kit. I know you've just gotten back but I want you to do me a really big favor."

**_"AnythingMama!"_**

"I want you say goodnight to your new friends."

"Goodnight? _Butit'snotmybedtimeyet!It'snoteven**noon**__!"_

"I know that darling but I need you to go to sleep and you won't wake up until to tomorrow when you do."

_"ButI'm**notTIRED**!" _the little ball of energy whined pathetically in the age old tradition of a child getting ready to start wheedling for an extended curfew. It was a very cute scene, except the next words that came out of Kagome's mouth made us all straighten up and grow serious.

"Shippou," she admonished gently, "you've been drugged. The only antidote I know of will make you go to sleep and it's important that we counter the effects of it immediately."

"Um…OKAY!" He literally bounced over to the guys and jumped from one boy to the next as he obeyed his mother. "ByebyeYusukeitwanicemeetingyou.AndbyebyeKuwabarapersonwhoitwasokaytomeetexceptyouhoughtIwasakittyyoukaiandthat'snotrightatall.AndBYEHIEI!IREALLYLIKEYOUAREYOUGOINGTOSTILLBEHEREWHENIWAKEUP?!"(4)

"Hn," Hiei looked desperately at Kagome since it was obvious Shippou had firmly planted himself on the fire demon's shoulder and wasn't planning on moving till he got an answer.

"Oh I'm sure you'll see Hiei again soon dear." That seemed to satisfy the kit as he then scampered back to his mother's waiting arms.

"Mama?"

"Yes Shippou?"

"Who'sthat?" the child pointed a slightly clawed finger at me while he sniffed the air.

"That's Kurama. He was protecting me while Hiei was saving you." The kit's eyes widened and he launched himself at me. I barely managed to catch him time and I staggered under the sudden attack.  
**_"AFOX!HE'SAFOXMAMA!IHAVEN'TSEENANOTHERFOXINTHREEYEARS!WHERE'DYOU  
FINDHIM?Hey,whydon'tyoulooklikefox?Yousmellhuman,exceptnotbutyouaren'tahanyoulikeInuyasha  
was."(5)_**

As he spoke the kit chased across my shoulders, sniffing my hair and examining me closely. It was during this time that he even found some of my seeds, which managed to put back exactly where I had left them. Hm, he has a great potential to be a thief with unconscious skill like that. He raced down and paused once more in my arms, which I hadn't even had time to lower. I stared down into intelligent green eyes that met mine with an open curiosity. I waited dutifully, completely prepared for anything he was going to say next.

"Are you gonna be my new daddy?"

Except that.

I raised my head to glare at my idiotic friends who had burst out laughing at my expense. Even Hiei seemed amused now that he wasn't the target of the overly energetic kit's attention. It was my turn to give a helpless glance at Kagome who seemed interested in how I would handle her son's question. No help from that quarter. I added her to my list of people who are currently deserving glares and even worse later, at the fist opportunity I can find to get even. Then I turned my attention back to the squirming bundle in my arms.

I acted as though I was carefully considering his question. Then I smiled down at the waiting kit, who as it turned out was harder to keep a grip on than you would imagine with the way his tail wagging was shaking my arms.

"Why yes, as a matter of fact I am."

The laughter in the background sputtered to a halt as the three sets of eyes regarded me with varying degrees of shock. Then the choking sounds Kagome was making registered and the laughter sputtered back to life, only this time aimed at her. She gave me a glare of _DEATH _that I pretended I didn't see. I focused on the kit to see how his reaction was. He seemed to mull my words over very carefully ,and he raised his nose to sniff me one last time. I was actually nervous about how he was going to take that.

"Hey congratulations Kagome! You've just acquired a second child!" Yusuke announced.

"That would only be the case if she had acquired one of you two," Hiei corrected him snidely. Kuwabara began protesting but Yusuke seemed more interested in what was going on with us.

Shippou started to yip and bark at me, shifting over into the tongue of fox demons.

"Are you gonna be good to my mommy? And you're not gonna try to replace me?" I was startled by his question not really expecting him to ask me such things directly. I allowed my form to change, suddenly becoming Youko.

I also shifted into the kitsune language. "I promise. If the two of you will have me I will always care for her and I will consider you as my own kit." I changed back into my human form. He seemed to come to some sort of decision and gave a tiny nod to himself.

"I like you."

"I'm glad to hear it. Now why don't we all go inside so we can fix you up that antidote, okay?"

**_"Kay!" _**In a sudden burst of energy I found the child sitting on my head. I blinked. Then he began to race back and forth across my shoulders once again as he started jabbering so fast that I didn't even bother trying to make out what he was saying. I gave a gentle smile to the fuming woman who's glance promised she'd deal with me later. We all walked inside the house.

As soon as we walked in the door Kagome swept Shippou into her arms and hauled him up the stairs, telling us to wait for her in the kitchen. "Come on Shippou, let's get you ready to sleep."

He kept staring at us speculatively over her shoulder. I wondered what was going on in that head of his. And I wondered exactly what Kagome was going to do to me when she got back down.

Speaking of which… I began to fidget nervously when she walked into the kitchen and flicked on the radio. Then she began to dig out some ingredients which she carefully arranged on the counter. Oh great. Now _she's_ the one who's staring at me speculatively. Maybe I should get an eyeball implanted in my head. It would really help at the moment.

Not really.

Hiei?

Her powers neutralize the effect of my jagan if I try to use it on her directly.

Figures.

You really meant what you told that boy. You really found your mate in her.

Yeah. I guess I have. I feel as though I've known her forever rather than a couple of days.

Treat her well fox. She has a large burden to bear. And I'm not talking about that kid of hers either. I nearly laughed at the grimace in his mental voice.

What do you mean Hiei?

…Perhaps you should ask her. I was going to press the issue, but-

"HEY KAGOME!"

We all turned to stare at the new comer.

Her black eyes sparkled at us as she turned to take us in and she was grinning hugely. She was not much taller than Hiei, not including his spiked hair. The girl was clothed in skin tight black pants and a shirt that matched, except there were slits along one arm showing off her arm, and no sleeve on her other arm. Her knee high boots were laced up the front and I noticed the daggers that were tucked inside. Around her waist was a curious belt that looked like a bunch of blades and slender cylinders that were connected together by a string. The hair on the left side of her head was pulled up into a bun that seemed to be held into place by yet another hidden blade. And the rest of her hair was bound in a braid that started at the bun but worked diagonally across the back of her head so that the finished braid fell across her right shoulder.

"Where in the hell did you come from?" Yusuke asked surprised. I admit even I hadn't sensed her approach, and I couldn't feel any energy even seeing her right in front of me.

"The ninth layer. It's my favorite." I raised a curious brow at her response.

"Hey, lady, could you answer the question?" Kuwabara asked.

"I did. Oh, OH! You mean _that_! Well ok, how do I explain this." The girl who looked about sixteen-ish walked over to Yusuke and placed her hand on his shoulder and spoke to him with a completely straight face. "You see dear, when a man and woman love each other very, very much-"

"AAACK! Get away from me!" he shrugged off her hand and stepped away wide eyed. The girl just broke down into a fit of giggles and wandered over to hop up on the counter where Kagome was still mixing the herbs.

"Aww, and I was soooo hoping to be able to give someone 'The Talk' today. How disappointing!" she giggled again.

"What are you doing here in the Ningenkai?" Kagome asked her curiously.

"I heard Shippou had been kidnapped, and I was going to save him but Muki said Koenma would probably have her second in command save him and that he could handle it. So instead I brought him a present. Looky! I discovered cable the other day, and I was flipping through channels and I saw this show called Pokemon. And it bright and cute and _MINDNUMBING! _But I saw this adroable lil' fox type thingy and I immediately thought, 'Shippou!' Isn't the little Vulpix adorable?" A stuffed toy suddenly appeared in her hands and she danced it through the air in front of Kagome's face. "That and I need to pick up a few things at the store. I'm going back to the Makai tonight though. I'm staying at Muki's again."

"Poor Mukuro. I know how your visits usually end up. She's going to have to do her usual job and then when her demons are finished searching the castle for all the corpses she's also going to have to do a body count."

"And tonight we're going to have a big bonfire!" Rin agreed happily. "That's why I need to go shopping. Mukuro agreed to let me clean up her ranks if I agreed to bring the marshmallows. Are you coming? It's gonna be soo much fun! We're gonna eat smores and tell ghost stories and I'm going to make all the demons sit around and sing Kumbahyah."

I nearly choked on that one. I'm pretty sure by that point we were all listening to the conversation with glazed expressions. I know I was. Just think of how powerful someone had to be to so casually announce that they were going to force an entire demon compound to attend a bonfire of a pile of bodies that they were responsible for. Who on earth is this girl?

"There's something incredibly wrong about forcing demons to sing degrading human songs."

"Aww come on! You know they start to enjoy it once they get past the whole total humiliation thing. Besides, _who's gonna stop me?_"

Kagome sighed, but her voice was indulgent when she spoke, "Good point. If Mukuro doesn't no one will."

"Exactly, and I- Hey! Someone tried to mark you!" the stranger squeaked, her attention focused on Kagome's neck.

"Mark me?" Kagome said blankly, pausing what she was doing.

"That's when certain species of youkai try to claim a mate. They mark them."

"I don't know what you're talking about Rin."

"You were bitten by a demon Hun. How can you forget something like that?"

"Oh that. Kurama just went all vampire on me in his sleep last night."

A number of eyes swiveled to stare at me with interest. Vaguely I wondered what the odds of getting swallowed by the ground at this particular instant were. Too slim I decided. I kept my gaze impassive and my mouth shut.

Meanwhile the newcomer, Rin, as Kagome had named her was examining it closer.

"Hey it's still bleeding. Haven't you accepted him? Or denied him? That's always an option contrary to popular belief."

"She can't." The smooth male voice that had cut into the conversation seemed to be coming from the radio that Kagome had flicked on. The rest of us jumped up reaching for our weapons when we heard the voice. A huge smile lit up both of the female's faces. We relaxed when we noticed that the women weren't surprised. Except for Hiei who was gripping the hilt of his katana and staring at the black box with a slightly paranoid expression. He's apparently been under a lot of stress lately.

"Hey Grandpapa Fluffykins!" Kagome gushed. "When did you get all technological over there?"

"… Go to Hell."

"Why Fluffy I'm hurt you'd say such a thing to me!" Kagome spoke in an injured voice.

"Stupid girl. The youkai mating ritual is deeper than human marriage. It's a binding of souls. The mark won't heal unless you accept or deny the Youkai who bit you, yet you can do neither in your current state. I meant exactly what I said when I told you to go to Hell. You will need to retrieve the piece of your soul that was stolen from you to revive the walking corpse that disgraceful hanyou had the nerve to choose."

"Yeah, Inuyasha was a bit odd."

"Do not speak to me of my moronic half brother. He stole the sword that should rightfully have been mine and he has insulted my line. His name is not to be mentioned in my presence."

"Of course Papa." The girls smiled to each other.

"And Kagome?"

"Yes Fluffy?"

"Address me in such an manner again and I will rid you of that insolent tongue."

"Uh huh, I love you too Grandpapa Doggy!"

"…………" Then the quiet music on the radio came back on.

"He's right though. You need your soul back. Not just because of the whole bite thing. I cornered Koenma before I came here and the truth of the matter is he's terrified that Karasu, who he's only _just _confirmed was the demon who escaped," she rolled her eyes at this before growing grim, "may have merged with Naraku's reincarnation."

Translations for those who care:

**_(1) _**And he kept saying 'DIE INUYAHSA!' And it all got very preticable and I would play with Mama and Rin while they tried to kill each other and that was always interesting except after it got boring. Just like Kouga and Inuyasha would always get into fights over Kagome but neither of them even cared what she thought and they just wanted her as a shard detector and they were jerks! And I didn't like them very much, well Inuyasha was ok most of the time except when he picked on me and made Kagome cry and I didn't like that and he was a big jerk then too, only more of a jerk than usual and then he would run off with Kikyo and he was stupid because Mama was better than she ever was, because mama was the one who defeated Naraku,except if you ever hear the legend they only mention Inuyasha and they only say that Kagome,that's mama, was a foreign miko who joined him and helped when she was the one who actually  
managed to beat him!

**_(2) _**_Mama! Mama! Guess what?! I was kidnapped by this big smelly demon and he took me to a fortress type thingy and t  
hen there were all these demons and they put me in this cell and it was sooooo BORING! And then I rememebered the present Rin gave me, you remember the summoning stones don't you Mama? And anyways I found them in my tail and I  
got my leaves and I transformed and I escaped into this tunnel that was all eewww and like gross and then I floated around and finally I managed to escape and transformed into the demon that had kidnapped me and I poured photoflo into their water and then I met Hiei, and he's so COOL Mama. He's half fire demon and half koorime, and he has a markof the black dragon and the white part of his hair is natural and he has a sister but he's not telling her he's his brother because there was some weird reason that I didn't really understand because I'm not an adult and he hates getting wet and he likes ice cream too 'cept he calls it sweet snow and he was an orphan too except his mama kicked him off an island when he was a baby and they call him the Forbidden Child for some reason that I don't really understand either and  
then he brought me to here and I met his friends Yusuke and Kuwabara and Yusuke is like Inuyasha except he isn't  
mean to me and he's a lot cooler than he ever was and he likes to beat things up with his fists and then there's Kuwabara who's okay except when he first saw me he thought I was a kitty youkai and he's a bit stupid but he's very sensitive and he was complaining about my ki being so high and kinda seemed freaked out for some reason but that doesn't matter very much. But I still think Hiei is the coolest and can we give him a shadow stone and then we can adopt him and he can be like my brother or something and I really like him. Can we keep him Mama, _PLEASE

**_(3) _**Yeah!They brought me this weird food that tasted all funny and their cook needs to be FIRED!

**_(4) _**Bye bye Yusuke. It was nice meeting you. And bye bye Kuwabara person who it was okay to meet except you thought I was a kitty youkai and that's not right at all. And BYE HIEI! I REALLY LIKE YOU ARE YOU GOING TO STILL BE HERE WHEN IWAKE UP?!

**_(5) _**A FOX! HE'S A FOX MAMA! I HAVEN'T SEEN ANOTHER FOX IN THREE YEARS! WHERE'D YOU  
FIND HIM? Hey, why don't you look like a fox? You smell human, except not but you aren't a hanyou like Inuyasha  
was.


	15. Chapter 14

I would like to give a special thanks to wackoramaco87 for Beta-ing this chapter for me and being so quick to get it back to me. Also special thanks to everyone who offered to edit for me. I got so many offers that I felt real special. And then I felt bad because I'd have to choose. But I'm just stupid like that so just ignore me ok?  
Thanks for reviews this times goes to: CrimsonBlades16, Keala-Chick, Artemis the Goddess, Kurama and Hiei's lovable miko, DemonLady1, Houndingwolf, ColdFang, Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe, Jayde Katt, fresh8, Delphine Pryde, dunken, Puppy, rogue solus, Dark, anonymousey226273, Lord Sesshomaru, ff, Serena SilverMoon, badgerwolf, Grimsister, Ivan's Kitsune, Arella Hallo, Angie, Aka Bara, Trina3, Lady Light, W?W?Su, Fire Pheonix1, Panther Queen, wackoramaco87, bloodbunny, ChibiKitsuneChanAtari, Sundragon, The Black Kat, Witch Child, Amethyst, kikitravel, and LLJade

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 14**

There was a moment of silence while I digested this tidbit of information.

Ok what do I know? I know the escaped spirit of a demon who hates my guts and kidnapped my son may be inhabiting the reincarnation of the most malicious evil entity in the history of the world, the same hanyou that plunged feudal Japan into chaos, and who just happens to be my grandfather on the human side of the family, give or take a couple hundred greats. Check. Now the big question is- how do I feel about this?

"**_NARAKU?!"_******I screeched jerking toward Rin. Misfortunately the knife in my right hand slammed into my left hand when I did so. I gave another undignified screech and dropped the knife to clutch my now bleeding hand, and began the traditional 'pain dance'. You know what I'm talking about. That 'hopping around from one foot to another while you yip in pain' dance that you immediately perform whenever you hurt yourself, before rational thought clicks in and you realize you should do something about it besides bask in the realization that you have an owie. A similar dance is done by children who need to go to the bathroom. It should be noted that while they are comparable, the 'pain dance' should never be mistaken for the 'pee pee dance'.

This has been a bad week. My son gets kidnapped, Karasu breaks free, some demon-hanyou type guy tried to mark me but can't because of that soul-stealing corpse slut, I get interrupted in the middle of a tasty dream, find out that Naraku may be running amuck again, and I manage to embarrass myself by nearly hacking off my hand. This is all making me very cranky. And since I was cranky that also translates into particularly childish at that moment. And in retaliation for her being the cause of my pain I stuck out my tongue at Rin.

When I realized what I was doing I wheeled away and stuck my hand under a faucet to wash it out and grabbed a clean towel to try to stop the blood. I turned back to glare at the open amusement on my grandmother's face.

Bitch.

"Perhaps you should heal that instead of bleed all over the place?" Rin suggested, grinning knowingly at me before turning around to examine the guys who were watching us with expressions that clearly said, 'We are very confused and we are prepared to sit here staring at you with these insipid expressions on our faces until you answer all our questions.'

"Ok why does Koenma think it's Naraku?" I asked dangerously after I had taken a second to heal the cut.

"Because things were still being reorganized back then. You know since Onigumi was a human that's what they tried him as. They didn't actually have a good system set up for hanyous at that point. And frankly as a human he wasn't what you could call bad."

"He was a thief," I corrected her testily.

"Yeah but not a very good one. And anyways he had never killed another person while he was alive so they rather ignored the fact he was a demon and gave him another chance at life. After all, reincarnation is supposed to be a whole clean slate system so unless something happened to trigger the recovery of his memories then the world was supposed to be safe. Especially since the world was then split up into three separate realms."

"Yo, I hate to butt in-"

"Then why are you?" Rin butted in.

He ignored her.

"but who are Naraku and Onigumi? And how do you know Koenma, and what hell is going on around here?" Yusuke asked, and snagged a chair and straddling it so that he was facing us.

"Tell us more about the barrier," Hiei's eyes bore into me, "And the Shikon no Tama. And who is _she_?"

Kurama flicked a questioning glance at Hiei and something seemed to pass between them. Then he also spoke, "Why exactly do you have to go to Hell? And why do you have a kitsune for a son? Who is Sesshomaru?"

"Yeah, and why was the radio talking to you?" Kuwabara demanded, puffing out his chest and crossing his arms. We all turned our eyes towards the carrot topped male in bemusement.

"Baka. Everything we've seen in the past couple of days and you have to wonder about the radio?" Hiei shook his head in a disgusted sort of wonder.

"Well shorty, it seemed like you guys had asked everything else so I thought I'd ask about something I was curious about ok?" the big guy defended himself.

Rin seemed to take pity on the confused males, and decided to get the easier questions out of the way. For which I am eternally grateful. Or at least for the next couple of minutes while I started adding more ingredients.

"Oh that's my fault the radio thing is. You see I'm moving to the Ningenkai for a while, but Papa wanted to be able to communicate with me easily whenever he needs me for something. He hasn't quite grasped the concept of cell phones yet so I just told him to find my ki and then taught him how to tune into whatever electronic device is around. Like TV's, videogames, radios and so on. And just for the record, Sesshomaru is my papa."

"And Koenma is afraid of him, why?" Kurama took the risk of asking.

I answered this question.

"Because the last time Fluffy got mad at him he transformed into his natural form and ate him. Problem was Koenma's a demigod so his chemical make-up is slightly different from a regular demon's. The acid in grandpa's saliva reacted badly with Koenma's blood. So not only did Koenma make Sesshomaru-sama cranky, but then he had the nerve to blow up when grandpapa was expressing his displeasure. Sesshy is still angry at him for that, even though it was about fifty years ago. That's why Koenma's avatar is a baby still, because he hasn't grown back to his original age. And just why are you moving to the Ningenkai?" I demanded of Rin before the guys could hammer us with more questions.

"Well actually, I'm just going to hang out here because there's more to do here than there is in Makai, y'know? I'm sorta on probation at the moment so I'm trying to find new methods of entertainment."

"Why are you on probation?" I asked wondering who could actually find something that would control Rin.

"I'm not _actually_ on probation, Kagome. See it was like this. I was vacationing in Spain, and they were having one of those nifty bull run thingies, so I stole Jaken's Staff of Heads and kicked him into the street. Problem was he didn't get out of the way fast enough and one of the bulls impaled him. When I told papa and asked to borrow Tenseiga, he let me take it, but he told me if I got Jaken killed even once more in the next five years he wouldn't bring him back to life for another twenty five."

I tried to work that out in my head. If Rin gets Jaken killed then _he_ won't be brought back for another twenty five years. Hmm. Makes sense to me.

"Poor _you_," I said in mock sympathy.

"I know! It's gonna be sooo boring."

"Ok so back to original subject," the grease haired boy cut in once more before we could get distracted.

"There was a subject?" Rin asked me. I shrugged dismissively and continued to stir.

"YES there was a SUBJECT!" the boy yelled at us, starting to look annoyed.

"Where?"

The poor spirit detective raised his hands in a clutching gesture towards us as though he were contemplating strangling us both. We smiled.

I guess now would be a good time to mention that Rin and I are very much alike. This probably stems from the fact that I helped raise her and she in turn helped raise me. We're both rather difficult individuals. Since we are both difficult, together we are nearly impossible. And we have a tendency to gang up on people.

It's petty I know, but we're like that.

"Why don't we start back at the beginning?" Kurama interceded. I've noticed that he tends to be the peacekeeper of the group.

I turned off the burner and started digging around in the cabinets, leaving Rin to answer them. I grinned to myself when she started speaking.

"Well okay. In the beginning God created the heavens and the ea-"

"I don't think that's the beginning they were looking for dear," Hm… how about this old sake jug? That'll work.

"What? Oh you guys want a _different_ story?" I laughed when I stood up and caught the looks on their faces. I carefully started to pour the antidote into the jug. She shrugged carelessly. Then her face brightened. "Alright. How about this one?"

"Long ago- unless you're not human, then it wasn't really so long after all- about 550 and some odd years really, there was a rather lovely and powerful miko named Kikyo. She was said to be kind, but distant-closed off from the people around her by the burden of her duty. She was the protector of the jewel known as the Shikon no Tama…"

I already knew this story so I left to take Shippou the antidote and the stuffed toy Rin brought him.

I walked upstairs and nudged his door open. He was jumping up and down on his bed dressed in his pajamas. I rushed over and handed him the jug, motioning for him to drink it all.

"Mama!" I zoned back in when I felt the tug on my sleeve.

"Oh what is it honey?" I brushed a hand through the hair that tumbled over my son's brow.

"Can you give these to Hiei? I wanted to thank him for saving me." I held out my hand and he dropped his present onto my palm. I raised my eyebrow when I saw what he wanted to give the dark demon.

"Shadow stones?"

"You don't approve?" he asked me nervously. I give him a reassuring smile.

"Of course I do, I was just surprised is all." He smiled at me.

"Tell me Shippou. What do you think of Kurama?"

"He's a fox. And he's nicer than Inuyasha was. And he doesn't try to grope you like Miroku did." That's debatable. "And he's _silver _mama! Do you know how rare _silvers_ are?"

"Why don't you tell me?" I suggested, snatching him from the air and plopping him down so I wouldn't have to keep moving my head to keep eye contact. "They're very, very rare. And they mate for life. Few get the chance to mate at all, since they frequently get hunted down and captured by demons who want their beauty for themselves. At least that's how it was in Sengoku Jidai. Silvers were practically considered royalty among the kitsune because they were so much more powerful than any other species."

"That's all very lovely Shippou, but that doesn't tell me how you _feel _about it."

"Well, when I found out he was going to be my new dad I was afraid that he wouldn't like me, or that he'd try to take you away from me. But… he promised if we accepted him that he would consider me his own cub. A promise from a silver fox is practically sacred mama. They almost never give promises so when they do make a promise hey always keep it, or die trying. I like him Mama." He said _what?! _I sat there reeling from the casual acceptance both foxes had displayed toward each other.

"I see. Well this little foxy went to the market, this little foxy stayed home, and this little foxy went to bed before he collapsed from exhaustion okay?" His giggle became a yawn halfway through.

I settled him down in the bed and pulled the blankets up around him, then I tucked the plushy in beside him. "It's a present from Rin. She was worried about you." He gave another small smile and his eyes began to drift shut. I sat there watching my cub sleep for a moment longer. He looked so peaceful this way. I gave him a soft smile and quietly left the room.

I went back downstairs. I caught the end of the Rin's story.

"Inuyasha left to hell with Kikyo. That still left the jewel's wish which Lord Sesshomaru then used to make the three realms separate. The Western lands became the demon realm and expanded into nine layers, what is now known as the Makai. Hell corresponds to the Makai. Reikai, separated from the Ningenkai, but it corresponds to Ningenkai."

I picked it up from there, "But I still had the rest of Sesshomaru's requirements for his aide to fulfill. So I came back to the future through the well, and left my son here. Then I returned to the past and began to train my miko powers so that I could cast the spell that would prevent free passage between the realms. For the past 500 years, I have been the barrier between the realms."

"I don't get it," Kuwabara complained.

"You don't get a lot of things," Hiei mumbled in annoyance. Kuwabara pretended not to hear him this time.

"How'd you live that long? I thought you guys were humans right?"

"The Mark of the Black Dragon when acquired by demons is frequently used for the purpose of having a powerful attack, if they can handle channeling its power in such a manner. A similar mark on a human will extend their lifespan considerably, and grant them a certain amount of protection," I replied mildly. I fingered the Shadow stones in my hand thoughtfully as I spoke. I walked over to the fire apparition and placed the stones on the table in front of him. "Shippou wanted me to give you these. He thought you might be able to use them." Rin raised a brow exactly as I had when she noticed what the stones were. I shrugged off her questioning glance. She frowned at me before turning her attention back to the subject.

It was then my grandmother's turn to jump back in, "But there's a bit more to the mark than most people realize. And you shouldn't ever confuse the Mark with the Crest. Their purpose and their properties are _very_ different."

"The Crest?" Kurama asked, looking between the two of us.

"It's basically an upgraded version of the Mark. Except it has a different meaning. Also it's exceedingly difficult to get without the proper connections. The Mark is _slightly_ easier to get your hands on," she explained to them.

"Yeah you could say, win the mark in a poker game against a very drunk Priestess of the High King of All Evil," I snickered, casting a glance at Rin, "Unfortunately you'll be famous and your death, or rather non-death will flood the media for decades with random sightings of you."

"It wasn't my fault! I'm telling you he stacked the deck!" Rin protested her innocence. "That Elvis fellow was a tricky bastard!"

"Yeah, yeah! Deny it all you like. You just made that bet and then gave him the mark because you knew how much chaos it would cause in America when he died." She rolled her eyes at me, but I noticed she didn't deny it. Instead she changed the subject.

"So when are you going to Hell? And who are you taking to protect you?"

"I can protect myself! And it's not like anything in Hell would have the nerve to attack me anyways."

"Probably not, but you know how the males of the family get. They don't like you purposely putting yourself, and therefore the barrier, in danger."

"Oh fine!" I grumbled in annoyance. "I was planning on going as soon as we eat. And, how would you like to take a trip to Hell Kurama?" I asked my fiancé of sorts.

"I'd be delighted to accompany you," there was droll humor lacing his words.


	16. Chapter 15

Thanks to all my reviewers last chapter: CrimsonBlades16, Inu Youkai-Hime, Kurama and Hiei's lovable miko, Houndingwolf, BabyTil14, Keala-Chick, Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe, Lady Light, The Sisters of Chaos: W/D, catgurl-chan, Star Silver fox, badger wolf, Blades of the Sun, Ichigo, silver claws, Sabrina Usagi the Goddess, ColdFang, anonymousey226273, Artemis the Goddess, Angie, Arella Hallo, fresh8, Tsunmi-chan, Sweet Sakura Curls, chocolategummybearofdoom, sins, Alexis of the Westlands, White Tiger Princess, kikitravel, YoukaiHime, bloodbunny, Amethyst, The Black Kat, Egyptianlover, LLJade, wackoramaco87, ChibiKitsuneChanAtari, and Angeltiger

_Special Note: I don't own Mulan, or Disney, or Dr. Pepper. _

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 15 **

"Good!" she beamed at me. I uneasily wondered what was in store for me. "Now I'm going to go change and have a quick word with Koenma. When I get back we can eat and leave. Rin would you please go grab us something? I hate to traipse through Hell on an empty stomach."

"At least through the layer that bitch is in," Rin agreed with her. "Burgers sound good?" We all voiced our agreement, and they smiled.

"Wonderful! So about 15 minutes?" Kagome gave a distracted glance around, not really seeming to care whether we agreed or not.

"Righty-o!" Rin agreed cheerfully. With a final smile for us, Kagome left the room.

We all turned to stare at the girl in black who was straddling the counter top.

"Well I guess I better get going," she announced. As soon as Rin spoke she braced her hands the counter and shifted her weight forward, raising her body until she flipped upright into a standing position at the edge. She allowed her momentum to carry her forward and she gracefully dived off the side. Before any of us could move to catch her she fell into the shadow at the bottom and disappeared.

We all stared.

_/That's a nifty trick./ _Youko commented.

_I'll say. _I agreed with him in amazement.

"So…" I broke the silence, "now what?"

"I dunno."

"Does anyone understand what the hell is going on?"

"Nope."

I ran my tongue over my teeth as I considered this. "Ok then." As long as I'm not the only one then I'm strangely comfortable with that thought.

"I don't get it… How can she be Kagome's grandmother? She's younger looking than Kagome!" Kuwabara demanded, rubbing the back of his head.

"No one knows, just forget it," Yusuke suggested, kicking back in his chair. "We have officially reached the twilight zone. We've seen some weird shit, but this is just… weird."

"What a brilliant deduction. Did you come up with that one all by yourself?" Hiei muttered sarcastically. He seemed much more like himself now that he was beginning to recover from the kit's presence. Also with the absence of the females, we were all able to pretend that everything was almost normal. Well as normal as everything typically was for us. Heh, yeah… normal. I roll my eyes at that thought.

It didn't seem like fifteen minutes had passed when Rin suddenly walked through the wall behind us, startling Yusuke and Kuwabara enough to knock them out of their chairs. She was singing a strange song under her breath.

"Sheesh, you guys are so edgy. Relax, I don't bite… Unless you beg me to!" the dark girl gave us an impish grin and deposited the paper bags onto the table. "Where's Kagome?" She went back to humming softly to herself.

"I'm right here," Kagome's voice preceded her entrance. When she walked into the room, I stared.

My lady wore a white haori with black hakamas. She had a bow and a quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder, and her hair was pulled over her shoulder in a loose ponytail. However the thing that really prevented her outfit from falling under the category of 'traditional' were the slits in the sides of her pants. There were two long triangles of material missing, exposing a creamy expanse of her hip and legs. Along her left snaked a black dragon, that wound around her leg.

So I was right. That was a Mark of the Black Dragon on her. Or is it the Crest? That was a bit confusing…I realized where I was staring and I tore my eyes away. When I glanced back at the others I realized where their eyes were locked on her body. I couldn't prevent the dangerous growl that rumbled through my body when I noticed them ogling _my_ mate.

_/Bastards! MINE! You can't look at her like that!/_

I swear if even one of them asks her for a closer look at her tattoo I will rip off their head.

"Kurama? Are you ok?" I blinked, and the red clouding my vision began to recede. Kagome was looking up at me with concerned storm-blue eyes. The guys were all staring at me in surprise, except for Hiei who gave me a knowing look. Rin was watching me with a strange expression, but I couldn't make out what she was thinking. I flushed as I realized just how close to losing control I had been. For some reason that seems to have started happening a lot more since I met Kagome than it has in my entire existence.

"Whatever, let's EAT!" Rin announced, diving into a nearby bag. Her hips were swaying to the song that she kept coming back to. We all raised an eyebrow when she started singing out loud.

"Be a man! You must be swift as a coursing river! With all the force of a great typhoon! With all the strength of a raging fire! Mysterious as the dark side of the Moooooon!" Kagome's strange relative then plopped herself down into the unsuspecting lap of our Jaganshi, wrapping her arm behind the back of his neck. Then she pretended to be holding a microphone to her mouth and allowed her voice to slip into a breathy southern accent. "Tell me sugar, do you consider yourself as mysterious as the dark side of the moon?" She didn't give him a chance to answer. " Didn't think so."

"Oh some minion of absolute evil you are," Kagome scoffed. "Disney songs?" Rin straightened up and wagged her finger at the miko.

"Are you saying I don't know what evil is? I know what evil is and Disney is EVIL!"

"Disney is aimed at children Rin," Kagome pointed out, laying her bow and arrow on the counter top.

"Puh-lease!" Rin rolled her eyes, "They have gorgeous unnaturally proportioned princesses that will give children an unhealthy view of what they should look like. The princes that they have? Yeah, I sure as hell wouldn't settle for one of them! But that's what girls look for in guys! Some handsome guy on a big white horse to come along and sweep them off their feet. Little girls that watch that shit don't have any other criteria for their princes. They don't care that he might be a necrophiliac, like Snow White's man. They don't care that he's too stupid to recognize her after she saved him like the Little Mermaid's prince. And quite frankly if some cute and fuzzy lil' critter comes up and starts talking to you, you know it's got to be a demon! How can you possibly say Disney is not evil? I can keep going if you're not convinced," she announced, crossing her arms under her chest in a huff.

"Never mind. And stop molesting the fire demon at the table."

I glanced over at Hiei when she said this. His face was red and he was staring at the girl who had planted herself in his lap with a trapped sort of expression. I managed to change my laugh into a cough at the last minute when I saw poor Hiei, but as usual the remaining members of our team were not so considerate. Rin turned around to see what Kagome was speaking about and seemed to realize that she was still sitting on our unfortunate friend.

"Oh you poor thing! I think I've traumatized him for life! And- Hey! Is that natural?" Whatever else she was planning on asking him was derailed by her sudden desire to run her hands through his hair and tug on the white star. "Ooooh! Pettable! What's your name?"

"Hiei," he snapped at her jerking his head back in an attempt to dislodge her hand.

"Pettable Hiei!" she happily crooned, continuing to run her hands through his hair, despite his protests and admittedly inventive threats.

"Rin, come get some caffeine," Kagome cut in.

"Dr. Pepper?!" the dark girl was immediately distracted. She bounced up and was on the other side of the kitchen with a speed that rivaled the fire demon's. Even I couldn't contain my laughter this time around. The two joined us at the table with some sodas. Kagome smiled weakly at us and her enthusiastic relative didn't even seem to notice since she was now focused on her food and nothing else. I am reminded of the way Kagome was when she ate lunch with us and found herself with some oden. I look pointedly at Kagome and she seems to understand what I am thinking since she mock glares at me before dismissively tossing her head.

We all descend upon the hapless beef patties and bread. Immediately a fight breaks out among my more volatile companions. While they are thus distracted I grab a burger and start eating, doing some zoning out of my own. After all, the quicker we get finished eating, the quicker I get my mate-to-be alone. I smile.

_/She bears our mark. Until she officially denies us we have the ability to do everything in our power to convince her to accept us./_

_I wonder if she knows that?_

_/Who cares? She's ours and we are going to get her. And it's going to be fun./_

_Indeed. _My eyes trail over her body and I notice her staring at me with a wary expression. I allow my smile to widen. She seems to understand the challenge as she glares at me once more before tilting her chin in an answering challenge.

_/Let the games begin./ _Youko and I think at the same time.

Finally that's over thank Kami. I thought I'd never get Kagome alone.

We are now in Hell. After we finished eating, Kagome grabbed her arrows and opened a portal in the barrier to the Makai. Then Rin opened a portal right behind that one that opened to where we are now. Passing through two portals in one step was … interesting. Remind me never to do it again.

I look around in interest. Hm… blackened red sky. Don't ask how that's possible, rest assured it is. Barren gray and red terrain. Craggy rocks and hills. No plants and not a lot of wildlife to speak of. Not unless you count those fanged dinosaur-esque monsters running around in the distance. …It's ok I suppose.

_/Stop admiring the scenery and make a move, human!/ _Youko snapped at me.

_Can't you keep it in your pants for five seconds? _I growl back at him.

_/Keep it in my pants?! I can't even get it OUT of my pants with you in charge! Move over and I'll show you how it's done **boy**./_

I ignore him.

"They've got to be around here somewhere," Kagome was muttering to herself.

"Kagome."

"Huh? What is it?" she answered distractedly.

"Tell me something. That drug that Shippou was given… why exactly were you so mad? All I could tell it did was make him really hyper. And if Rin is indication that's fairly typical of anyone in your family."

"She is a bit of a handful," Kagome smiled before she grew serious. "The hyperness was just a side effect of what the drug _really_ does, Kurama." She bit her lip. "How do I explain this?"

"There's a potion that is sometimes used by hanyous that allows them to reach their greatest potential in battle. It works by reversing the development of their human body. So basically it makes the human half so weak that the youkai blood will sense the danger and take over. The drug that was given to my son, is one of the primary ingredients of the potion of past life. It's not the one that reverses the physical form, thankfully, but it's the ingredient that allows for a quick transition for hanyous into demonic form, permitting them to make the change without the demon instincts overwhelming their mind and driving them insane."

"I'm familiar with the potion you speak of, but I'm not sure I quite follow."

"Ellywick, the drug used on Shippou, reinforces the body's cells so that a demonic being can summon a greater amount of you-ki with relative safety. That means that Shippou's hyperactivity was actually a result of his spike in you-ki. To put it in slightly oversimplified terms, used on a demon it will have the effect that a mixture of caffeine and steroids would on a human. The Ellywick itself isn't especially dangerous if it's not used constantly. However it was given to my son by Karasu. And the only reason for Karasu to want my son's energy to peak would be if he were planning on stealing it. The method he uses for stealing energy is to torture his victim to death."

Kagome's voice had grown tighter, and her face was a frozen mask as she spoke the last bit. Her attention was a thousand miles away on what she was planning on doing to Karasu when she got her hands on him. I realized this wasn't what she need to be doing right now. She needed to be distracted before her powers-

Fuck!

Her hair began to float up. The dust at her feet swirled as her powers began to build around her. Her eyes were unfocused, and her hands clenched into fists. Her knuckles were white. I had a moment to panic as I realized what she could do to me without even realizing it.

_/Hey do something! If she loses control she might accidentally purify us!/_

I didn't think she actually would but there was no reason to take chances. We had to distract her one way. And there was one way that I was sure would work. A silvery mist crept over my body. I felt my hair grow longer. My bones subtly shifting within my body, growing, making me taller, and stronger. My hands lengthened into claws. I knew what I would see if I were looking in a mirror right now. Youko.

Moving quickly so that she couldn't gather anymore of her powers I slid behind her and wrapped our arms tightly around her body. Before she could begin to struggle I allowed a rumbling purr to vibrate through the both us. That backed her off from her powers but it didn't completely snap her out of it. I lowered my head and nipped her in exactly the same spot where the mark was on the other side of neck. She gasped. Getting closer. I allowed my hands to slide up over her rib cage, until they were just brushing the underside of her breasts. I smiled against her throat when I felt her heartbeat picking up speed, even through the thick material. She lost her grip on the energy she gathered and it receded back within her.

I had accomplished what I was trying for but now that I had my hands on her I realized I didn't feel like letting go just yet. I transformed back into my human form. I allowed my hands to slide a little higher, and then slid them back down again before she could protest. She turned her head towards me, and I'm fairly certain she was planning on commenting on that, but I never gave her the chance. Before she could say a word I captured her lips with my own. She tried to speak but when she opened her mouth I took the opportunity to slide my tongue in her mouth. She moaned in response, and melted back against me. I gave a low growl of approval, and tried to pull her even tighter against me.

**"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO KAGOME?! LET HER GO _DEMON!" _**


	17. Chapter 16

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and all:Artemis the Goddess, Eris Goddess of Chaos, Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe, Lady Light, BabyTil14, Inu Youkai-Hime, silverclaws, Houndingwolf, DemonLady1, Star Silver fox, Alena, ECMRamos, Chiisana Kitty, Sabrina Usagi the Goddess, smilez, Akina Tsukana, ColdFang, Defafaeth Mechqua, Itoshii Kaosu Megami-Kouseki, Megan Consoer, Sweet Sakura Curls, person, Sakura/Sagwa, Ivan's Kitsune, Angie, Fluffy's Daughter, sins, kagome-angel2000, HebiYoukai, Melshenia Kari, Roadkill, Lillo, Angeltiger, Black Kitsune, The Sisters of Chaos: W/D, Hinakoyatate, tomboy, Demeter, Kitsune addict, ScottishFae, DreamVixen

Kagome's POV.

**Chapter 16**

_Oh I can NOT believe this! _

I catch a flash of red from the corner of my eye. I jerk my head around and glare. I start to open my mouth to say what I've only just realized is, yes even after all these years, still my favorite word.

"SI- HEY!" I find myself staring at the back of my current love interest type… whatever. _He pushed me out of the way! _As if I have anything to fear from Inuyasha! Before I can say so he reaches behind his ear and produces… a rose?

If he gives a cheesy inspirational speech and flings it at Inuyasha I will seriously have to reconsider the potential relationship we've started. Hey didn't he, in that dream… A whip? Oh my… that _is_ kinky.

_Blink._

Ack! I can't be dwelling on all the potential perks of having a plant manipulator for a lover! He's about to cream my friend. Not that Inuyasha can't be stupid at times, like when he chose Kikyo, or even _now_ for instance; but he's still a friend.

"Get away from him Kagome!" Oh why does Inuyasha always have to charge in blindly?

"Rose whip!" Hello? Yeah I'm still here. This _really_ isn't necessary, y'know. You're not listening are you? No of course not. That would make sense. I can't believe these two are fighting. They barely met. It usually takes Inuyasha longer than that to induce the people around him into a murderous rage, and by that time he's also shown them he can be nice if he puts his mind to it so we usually refrain.

I open my mouth to try again, but then I feel the presence that always makes me stiffen.

_Kikyo_

I stare around sharply. Perhaps I seem a bit paranoid, but given our history I really don't like being in the same area as Kikyo without knowing if she's behind my back. We're females you see, and neither one of us has that male honor thing that requires us to be stupid. I don't see her when I look around. But a sudden surge of power in the rocks above me gives me a clue as to where she's at. I look up in time to see an arrow wrapped in blackened purple energy racing through the air toward me.

Oh _fuck_!

Have you ever had one of those moments where time does this really annoying slowing down, and everything around you comes into sudden sharp focus? Then you watch helplessly as some deadly projectile hurtles toward your heart, and you're frozen, unable to move? That's what happened now.

Except for the frozen unable to move part. I mean honestly, do I look I'm just going to stand there and let myself get impaled by an arrow? What do you take me for? An anime character? Yeah right. Dramatic as my dying now would undoubtedly be I'm not planning on it any time soon. I mean how embarrassing, saying I can look after myself and then getting knocked off like thirty minutes later. I'd die from shame before the arrow ever did any damage.

I flung myself out of the way, but part of the energy caught me in my shoulder. Can you say "Ow"? I come to my knees, swinging my bow around and knocking my arrow in one almost smoothly continuous motion. I say almost because it's very difficult to make a smooth continuous motion when you're bleeding all over the place.

There's a shout behind me. I think it was Kurama but I can't be certain. A surge in you-ki rolling off him confirms that he's at least displeased, even if he wasn't the one who shouted. Oh sure, _now _they stop fighting. I would roll my eyes if I thought it was safe to take them off of Kikyo.

"Kikyo! What are you doing?! Why did you attack Kagome?!"

That's our genius. Although it's not his fault I suppose. Kikyo has always made it a point to try and kill me only when Inuyasha was _not_ around. And I never mentioned it because assuming he believed me, I didn't want to hurt him. So he hasn't figured out just how homicidal she really is.

We've shielded him too much, poor boy.

"Far too long I have been incomplete. I cannot tolerate it any longer even for your sake Inuyasha," she declared in her cold voice as she descended from the rocks, her next arrow steadily trained on me.

"How odd," I noted sardonically, "That's almost the exact same thing I was about to say."

I observed from the corner of my eye that Kurama was tensed, poised to attack her the moment an opening came up. I wanted to scream when I saw Inuyasha take a hesitant step toward us, dropping his guard against my fox in favor of trying to placate his chosen.

_Inuyasha__ don't lower your sword! She can't be trusted!_

"Kikyo? Kagome? What are you saying?"

"Stay out of this Inuyasha! She has my soul!" Kikyo snarled advancing on me.

"Correction," I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the pain of my wound, "you have _my_ soul. And it's time that you returned it."

Damn! I really wish she hadn't hit my _shoulder_.

"Returned it? This soul is mine! You are nothing but a cheap replica of what I am! You are too pathetic for words Reincarnation!"

"Let's get one thing straight here and now. I. Am. Not. Your. _Fucking_. Reincarnation. Got that _grandmother_? Oh wait! That's right! I never told you that I was Rin's grandchild, and that she is yours did I? Of course we haven't been on speaking terms exactly since you keep trying to kill me and steal my soul." I watched Kikyo's face twist in rage.

"You tried to kill Kagome before?! What is she talking about Kikyo?" Inuyasha's voice was upset when he spoke. Yet another betrayal by the corpse. She's getting almost as good as Naraku at this. I wonder when he's going to figure it all out.

"You lie!" she shifted her arrow to aim it at my head.

I narrowed my eyes at her words. She can call me a lot of things but liar isn't among them.

"No actually I don't. With my connections I have access to certain accounts that would be off limits to nearly anyone else. One of those is my complete family line. I would also have had a list of past lives except I was a new soul when I entered into existence. I am your _descendent, _Kikyo. Not your reincarnation. And just for the record, I am better than you _ever _were. After all, _I_ didn't fail to protect the Shikon jewel. _I_ neither betrayed my lover, nor did _I_ fall for Naraku's deceptions. _I_ never allowed myself to be swayed from my duties by a man. _I_ was chosen to be the Miko Protector of the Shikon no Tama; servant of the Devil King of All Evil, Sesshomaru. _I_ am a Representative of the Worlds in the High Council of the Gods, _I_ am Guardian Barrier of the Realms." I cocked a considering brow. Then I added what had to be the most important and time consuming title I hold.

"_And_ I've done it all while being a single mother."

**_"I WON'T LISTEN TO YOUR FILTHY FALSEHOODS ANYMORE!" _**she shrieked and released the wooden shaft. I also released the arrow that I had been holding in my bow.

The two glowing projectiles collided in a flash of brilliant power. The glowing purple energy of Kikyo's arrow, clashed horribly with my pale blue energy. The air crackled dangerously around us as we both willed our own energy to triumph. I clenched my teeth as Kikyo struck at me through my soul, trying to distract me long enough to push her arrow past my own. I growled dangerously as I thought of everything Kikyo would acquire if the tainted bitch stole my soul. _Cheating slut! How dare she?! _I seethed.

I refuse to let Shippou lose another parent! And what about Kurama? I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do about him, but I don't want anything to happen to him because he initiated a bond with me. I'd feel just awful about that. And what would she do to Inuyasha if she had my soul? She wouldn't need him anymore with as powerful as I've become. My jewel, my barrier, my family, my life! She's trying to steal it from me. There was no fucking way I was going to let her get away with all this!

My arrow began to glow even brighter as my rage grew. The blackened arrow was pushed back by mine, and my power broke through. It crashed into Kikyo's, shattering it before slamming into Kikyo herself. I saw the animated corpse's face contort into a look of pained surprise. Her body began to glow, streams of bluish white light pouring from her body. She appeared to be ripping apart, beams escaping through the tears that appeared in her flesh. Tiny glowing orbs streamed out of her body and flowed into me. I could feel my strength increasing as my soul was returned. There was a blinding flash of light and then nothing. All that was left were some scraps of red and white pooled around a pile of dusty ashes.

For the first time in centuries I felt complete.

I turned toward the sound when there was a soft clink. Inuyasha had dropped his sword and was staring at the remains of what had once been his love. He raised empty eyes towards me.

"Inuyasha," I raised the hand that wasn't holding the bow toward him, although I'm not exactly sure what I was trying to offer him.

"Stupid wench!" his voice was harsh. He lowered his pale head and stared at the ground. "You're bleeding."

"You're right," I agreed quietly. I sat down, placing my bow and quiver of arrows to the side, and then began the healing on my shoulder. When I opened my eyes Inuyasha was standing, the Tetusagia sheathed and on his hip once more. I studied him. His face was more mature, his rounded features had sharpened somewhat. His hair still fell down his back in an untamed mane and he still wore his red fire rat clothing. Aside from that he hadn't changed a bit since that day he had followed Kikyo to Hell.

"Do you hate me?" I asked him carefully when the silence grew painfully thick.

"All of that… what you said before… Was it true?" he asked without looking at me.

"Yes," I replied simply. He inhaled sharply and looked up at the sky.

"It's over then."

"Inuyasha?"

"It's over," he repeated in a hollow whisper.

Kurama remained tense, waiting to see what was going to happen. He stood there looking torn between wanting to check me over himself and killing something. Fortunately he refrained on both accounts. In the back corner of my mind was a little part that sat there admiring his restraint, but I ignored it in favor of the more logical portion of my mind. The part that said I had to deal with the strangely silent dog demon.

I walked over to Inuyasha wondering what to expect. I mean yes he had promised to protect me and yes we were friends. Always I would consider him such. _However_, I had just killed the love of his life and his sole reason for existing in Hell for the past few centuries. I realized what was happening as soon as I got a good look at his unseeing amber eyes.

_He was going into shock. _

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha, look at me!" I tugged his head down so he was facing me. "We're going home now. Back to Japan, and we're bringing you with us. I want you to just come along quietly okay?"

When he didn't say no I took it as a yes and I opened a portal to the Makai. I pushed Inuyasha through. I then waited by the portal for Kurama to go through. When he passed me I refused to look at him. I was feeling very confused at the moment. Whatever I was expecting it wasn't this and I wasn't quite sure how to respond to the way things were turning out.

Don't give me that look. I don't want to hear that there's nothing to be confused about because I'm bloody well feeling confused. I have a hanyou-esque kitsune who wants to jump my bones nightly hopefully for years to come- which I could honestly say I have no problem with… If it weren't for the fact that he just happens to be trying to tie our souls together for all eternity after I've only known him officially for a few days. I mean technically we knew each other for three months before that but since we weren't on speaking terms should something like that count?. Marriage is one thing but youkai are just a tad more extreme than humans are about these things.

Except he's really _hot _and Shippou and he have decided they like each other so that's okay. And I know he could provide for us easily. And he has the EARS! And a cute fwuffy tail! And his plants and…_grrr__ baby!_ But eternity? Do I _know _I like him that much? What if he decides he doesn't like me?

What about Inuyasha?

That's another thing. I also have an inu hanyou here who's currently in shock and who may decide to kill me as soon as reality sinks in. And if he doesn't hate me when this is all over what if he wants me when he realizes that Kikyo is gone permanently? I hate being a replacement. And how is Kurama going to feel about Inuyasha once he realizes that Inuyasha was sort of my first love?

But another thing I need to figure out is what exactly do I feel for Inuyasha now that I've seen him again anyway? Not the butterflies in my stomach and rainbowy bubbles dancing around my head as my eyes shine, that's for certain. I haven't felt that way in years. But I do feel something warm when I think about him. Sentimentality over my first crush perhaps?

…Could I actually have fallen as madly in love with the idiot as I had once thought I had been and it's now returning with proximity? Or is what I'm feeling actually gas from scarfing a burger too fast and then getting stressed over nearly being killed by a deranged corpse of a rather distant relative? I always get those two feelings confused.

Stupid burgers. Stupid brain. Stupid males. My life was almost simple before these two came along. Rage!

On the plus side of all this, I have my soul back. _Yay_Happy! Puff!

Except I still have to deal with a traumatized friend and a currently not happy fox demon who is starting to consider me his territory. Weep! Cry! Angst!


	18. Chapter 17

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 17 **

So there we were, having a nice quiet moment when this crazy dog guy comes along yelling at me to let my mate go. As if he had anything to say in the matter. I pushed Kagome behind me and grabbed a seed from my hair, allowing it to transform from a rose to a whip in a smooth almost languid motion. Kagome was trying to talk to us but my attention was focused on the strange male. He seemed protective of Kagome and I didn't know for sure what kind of claim he had on her. If it was one that was stronger than my own I would simply have to kill him because that is intolerable.

_Stop that!_

_/Stop what?/_

_Stop putting words into my head! I don't need your stupid instincts getting in the way. He couldn't possibly have a stronger claim than we have. We're her mate._

_/Correction, we are her ALMOST mate. And if anything stands in the way of her becoming COMPLETELY our mate its going to be him. Kill him quickly before he can try to steal what's ours!/_

_You don't know that!_

_/Do you want to take that chance? Kill him! Killhimkillhimkillhim!/_

_Shut up! Just how lucky do you think you'll get if you kill her friend?_

_/Er…/_

_Exactly. Now stop distracting me. This guy is charging us, you know that right?_

I dodged to the side and ducked his wild swing. Where the hell was he hiding that thing anyways? Huge ass sword like that, I couldn't possibly have missed it before. Unless I missed it because I was arguing with a certain _someone_.

_/Don't blame me for your blindness. To your left!…Good job. Although I gotta tell you, I didn't see it before either. There's no way BOTH of us could have missed it./_

Well that's a relief.

_/Of course if we're trying to keep him alive we really can't use the whip on him directly./ _Youko whispered slyly.

_Your such a smug bastard you know that?_

I struck out with my whip. He jumped backward, rebounded off the hillside, launching himself toward me. I narrowed my eyes.

_Show off._

I leapt into the air, flipping over him. I jumped again as soon as I landed, twisting around in the air. His blade passed directly through where I was standing when I landed on the flat edge. I quickly ran along his blade while he tried to regain his balance. Before I reached him I retransformed my whip so that the thorns weren't there but so that I still had my whip coiled in my fist. When I was within reach I backhanded him. He rocked backwards from the blow. The fact that I had charged my arm with ki probably added to the overall impression my fist had made on him.

I know I almost always use my plants when I fight, rarely relying on physical force really. But since no else is around I can go ahead and admit it. There's something incredibly satisfying about bitch slapping the shit out of my potential competition.

_/That's the spirit!/_

_Quiet you._

I jumped into the air, releasing my whip with a snap. I was aiming for the wrist holding the sword but he recovered more quickly than I had anticipated and my weapon wrapped around the base of his blade. He jerked his weapon around. This caught me off guard so I started flying toward the ground. I'm sure the impact would have been painful but I transformed my whip back into a flower with a thought and rolled with the impact. I came up in a fighting stance when I rolled to my feet.

Quick check. No broken bones. There was a rock where I had landed and that was going to leave a mark but other than that and a slightly sore shoulder I would be fine. Still that was going to cost him.

So now all that was left was figuring out how to get back at this guy with the admittedly severe limitation I put on myself. I glared dangerously when I saw his self satisfied little smirk. I raised my hand to subdue him with my new whip when I felt a new energy.

My head snapped around when I caught that scent. Like Kagome's but laced with the stench of death and decay. If I had been in my youko form it would have been intolerable and my ears would definitely be laid back. I glanced back at the inu wondering how he was handling it. Ugh! He didn't even seem to notice it!

_/How wrong is that? Has he forgotten what he is? Only scavengers appreciate such a stench!/ _Youko was disgusted by the thought of voluntarily aligning with such an abomination of nature.

_I know what you mean. She's definitely not natural. She must be the being Rin told us about. Kikyo wasn't it?_

_/Who cares? She's making my skin crawl! Fuck the dog, let's kill HER!/_

Before I could respond she released an arrow at Kagome.

Youko went crazy, practically clawing at my mind to get out. I felt my world going red. I was severely tempted to let him loose but I felt an echo of Kagome in mind. That pulled Youko up enough that I was able to shove him to the back of mind while we tried to trace the feeling.

_/Do you think she even realizes that she warned us off? She wants to handle this herself... / _

_Enough that she opened her emotions to us. We should respect that... _

_/Yeah... Do you think she knows she deepened the bond with that move?/_ I raised my brow at his eager tone. I could just picture his tail wagging in my head.

_You never give up do you?_

_/Not really, no.__ But watch the mutt. If he makes a move to interfere on that corpse's behalf we take him down, no questions./_

_Agreed. _

"Kikyo! What are you doing?! Why did you attack Kagome?!" The inu asked the undead miko.

"Far too long I have been incomplete. I cannot tolerate it any longer even for your sake Inuyasha," she declared in her cold voice as she descended from the rocks, her next arrow steadily trained on Kagome. So this is Inuyasha. He's a smart one. How can he not pick up on the bad vibes between these two? And Rin had hinted that Kagome had a thing for Inuyasha, at least before Kikyo had entered the picture.

_/I told you we should have killed him./_ Youko muttered.

_And I told you why we shouldn't._

_/Yeah, yeah./_ he grumbled. I tensed up as I returned my attention to the proceedings. I wasn't sure who was the bigger threat at this point, but I was more than prepared to launch myself at anything that threatened Kagome.

"And I've done it all while being a single _mother_."

**_"I WON'T LISTEN TO YOUR FILTHY FALSEHOODS ANYMORE!" _**

I missed what had been going on before, but I'm taking it that was rather a soft spot that Kagome poked with that observation. They both released their arrows in a rather terrible display of power. Then again, maybe it was just terrible to me because I knew what would happen to me if any of it touched me. Hideously painful death that would turn me into a pile of goo aside, it was still very impressive to look at. Very pretty. Kind of like standing next to a fire works booth that someone's just tossed a match onto. Moving away now. Don't mind me.

And then it was suddenly over.

All that was left was a pile of clothing pooled around a pile of ashes. But when it was done she didn't look happy. And she didn't return to my side. She went to him. I felt like she had struck me. What?! Kagome wants to bring him back to Japan?! Him in the same area as me?! While I'm trying to get my mate? And she's looking concerned about him! I snarl dangerously as I watch her hovering over him. What about me?

She avoided my eyes as I walked toward her. I even paused in front of her hoping she would acknowledge me. She didn't beyond waiting for me to pass through the opening she created. I narrow my eyes thoughtfully. I'll give her the space she wants for the moment but we are definitely going to discuss this later.

And she's even managed to block us from sensing her emotions! I honestly don't think I would be so upset at the moment if she hadn't deepened the beginning of our link and then slammed a wall up as soon as this Inuyasha guy made the scene. And Youko isn't helping here. He's vain, even for a fox, and he really hates to be ignored. Especially by someone whose undivided attention he feels should be focused solely on him. Us, I should say, since we are a package deal. He's currently holding a conversation with himself that probably shouldn't be repeated... in any type of society. Oohh that one was nice. Do you think I could pronounce that with human vocal cords?

_/Doubtful./_

_The world is against me. Even the more interesting curses are denied me!_

_/Stop whining at me, I'm too busy feeling scorned and rageful to care about you at the moment./ _

"Hey Kurama?"

"Yes Kagome?" I kept my voice carefully neutral as I answered her. I noticed that her attention was focused to the west.

"Could you do me a favor? Take Inuyasha back to my mother's house, and pick up your friends. Bring them back here."

"You're coming with me," I informed her. I don't think she was paying me any mind.

"No, I'm going ahead. I want you to hurry back and catch up though," she answered absently.

"I'm not leaving you here by yourself!" I may be upset with her, but that's no reason to let her go off and get herself killed. Women have no sense of self preservation when it comes to battle.

"Don't worry about me. I'm perfectly capable of fending for myself for a bit."

"Fending for yourself," I repeated dangerously. Oh don't you give me that brilliant smile like that's going to make me forget that you're planning on running off into demon lands alone. Intolerable.

"Well obviously. Kurama look at Inuyasha. He doesn't need this right now. Now if you hurry, you can have him at my house and then be back before I even find what I'm looking for. Now be a dear and go on."

"Why don't I go ahead and you take him back to the ningenkai?"

"Because you obviously can't feel what I'm sensing at the moment which means I'll be able to find it faster than you would be able to. So go on now. Inuyasha! Kurama's my friend and he's taking you to my house. I have an errand to run but I'll be back home tonight ok?"

One of us isn't making much sense at the moment. I have a suspicion it's her, but I can't really find any logical argument to her reasoning. Aside from the obvious I'm not at all happy about it thing of course. I give her a considering look before nodding briefly. She's not planning on backing down and it'll be quicker not to waste time arguing with her. She smiled, thinking she'd won. She opened another portal and gestured us through. I waited until after Inuyasha passed through. This time however I didn't allow her to ignore me. When I stood in front of her I grabbed her chin and forced her gaze up to mine. Her eyes were startled as she looked up me. When I spoke it was in a very low commanding voice.

"I'm allowing you to have your way this time." She looked prepared to yell at me when she understood what I meant, but I continued before she could say anything. "If you get hurt while you are off trying to save the world by yourself, then you will answer to _me_. And I will be forced to punish you as I would anyone who damages something that I claim as mine. Are we understood?" She stared at my mouth since I allowed a bit of fang to flash as I spoke the last. However I really didn't feel like listening to whatever she tried to say next so I crushed her lips beneath mine. I smiled against her lips when I smelled the sudden change in her scent. I scraped my fangs over her bottom lip in an almost playful nip. Then I slid through the portal without a backward glance.


	19. Chapter 18

Thanks to all my readers who reviewed this time: Sundragon, NekoYoukai, Angeltiger, The Black Kat, LLJade, Amethyst, inuyasha92689, bloodbunny, DreamVixen, solqua, Shiroi Hikari, YoukoKurama201, Silver Neko, Blue Angel, Angeltiger, CrimsonBlades16, StarTsubasa, Angie,Defafaeth Mechqua, Arella Hallo, peace craft, Star Silver fox,Ivan's Kitsune, DemonLady1, Houndingwolf, fresh8, heLLoissMe, Midnight-Blue-Wolves, Mirror My Dreams, Deviant Nature, Dark Topaz, Silverclaws, Sabrina Usagi the Goddess, Eris Goddess of Chaos, HebiYoukai, DarklilHiei, Talaroh, kagome-angel2000, Jyderman, W(ench)9 (x2), Singe-dreams and Inu-Rachieru

Special Extra Thanks goes to wackomaraco87 and Neko Youkai for Beta-ing the past few chapters.

Kagome's POV

**Chapter 18 **

'He-why-he-ahhhhrrg! He's _allowing_ me to do my job? How dare he kiss me like that! And those ears of his were twitching, mocking me! I'm sure of it! Just who the hell does he think he is?! And he'll _punish _me if I get myself hurt? I'd like to see him try! He can't tell me not to get myself hurt! I'll get myself hurt if I damned well please!'

I paused to think about what I had just thought.

Ok, now I am sure that my mind has taken an official leave of absence. How dare he seem so- so sexy and reasonable and then turn all sexy dominating and…and… _sexy_! He's making me crazy. It's all his fault, damn him! And the way he looked at me before he left… Smug bastard. He's going to pay for making me a basket case.

I continued to stalk towards the energy I felt earlier, muttering about overprotective idiot males. It's the y-gene you know; makes them stupid. And prolonged association with them drops your IQ to their level, I'm sure of it. I almost wished some demon would jump out and attack me. As it was I was just going to have to wait until I tracked down Karasu and beat the shit out of him. Ahh a new target for my rage.

And he was close.

My mind snapped back to the situation and I really began to take in my surroundings. I found myself at the top of a ridge over looking a rather impressive forest. _Don't get yourself hurt indeed! _I'm lucky I didn't walk off the edge while I was busy being annoyed about that.

Hm, seems like Karasu's in that forest down there. If he's not moving then he wants to be found, meaning it's a trap. That also means he won't come out while he's safe in the center of his web, so to speak. Like a spider. Oh well, might as well get this over with.

I picked my way down the incline, carefully placing my feet to keep from tripping and killing myself. I could just see the headlines now if I did fall. Clumsy Priestess Becomes One With Nature. Barrier Broken with Neck. Poor Kagome's Had an Accident, and So May You ALL! I giggled. I kinda like that one.

I come to the edge of the forest, fortunately in one piece and all that. Carefully keeping my senses open I enter the canopy of trees. I feel my back itching, almost like there's a blade about to be plunged into it. Could just be me being paranoid though.

"What took you so long?" an oh so familiar voice comes to me when I reach a clearing in the woods. Took me so long? Oh now that doesn't scream trap at all. Evening, alone in the Makai in a densely forested area with only someone who seriously wants me dead for company. Man do I know how to spend my weekends or what?

"I'm terribly sorry. I got a little held up by traffic," I replied with an admittedly cocky grin.

"Interesting."

"Really?" I asked facetiously.

"No." Pout.

"You have something that belongs to me little girl. Now return the Shikon no Tama to its rightful keeper!"

I couldn't keep myself from staring when he walked into the light and I realized just who Karasu had merged with.

Figures.

Now the shield created from miko souls that had been hiding what he really was dropped I could see both faces superimposed over each other, just as I could with Kurama.

"Mr. Yotaru."

"Hello Kagome. Please don't make this difficult. Return the jewel and all will be well. Only part of me has any real desire to hurt you."

Wait a minute. No desire to hurt me? Return the jewel to it's rightful keeper? That doesn't sound like Naraku. And Karasu would never say that to me. I stare harder at Yotaru, clearing my mind of my expectations. I open my senses to actually feel his life energy and sense his soul. And when I recognize the soul behind Yotaru's personality I can't suppress my groan of sheer annoyance. That crow has a sick sense of humor. And I'm going to have to have a word with Koenma about the effectiveness of his information sources.

"Oh give me a break! Just how many times am I going to have to kill you today?" I demand before a thought strikes me and I start laughing.

"What is so funny?" my high school principle demanded testily. I just shook my head as trying to regain my composure.

"I'm sorry," I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye when I had calmed down again. "I just happened to realize that the male reincarnation of my miko ancestor has merged with an evil demon to try and get back the jewel that she lost while trying to prevent it from falling into the hands of an evil demon." I continued that line of thought in my mind and realized something even more important, that once again set me off. Karasu obviously hadn't thought things through before he joined with Yotaru.

"I fail to see the humor in the situation," Yotaru growled at me.

"That's ok, I don't," I snickered. "And here I was expecting to have to take on Naraku. Instead I get Kikyo."

"I grow weary of your amusement. If you will not give me what I want then I will take it by force. Die!" Yotaru raised his hands in preparation to attack. He didn't even realize what was going to happen when he tried that. I raised my own power, and began forming it into a shield.

"Papa?" A faint voice came from somewhere, along with a light knocking.

Wait a minute, I know that voice. Who was it this time?

Keri? I felt my powers slide away with the distraction.

"Supper's ready."

A door opened in mid air, on the other side was a hallway with white plaster walls and a table holding potpourri and a vase of flowers. Framed by the door was Keri who stared at the scene unfolding between us in shock.

"Papa?"

_Don't come out here! That'll close the portal! Oh Shit! _

Yotaru was wrapped up in struggling with the energy that was doubtlessly going out of control by now to notice the sudden appearance of the school girl. Keri stood there, looking scared as she watched the hanyou-esque being glowing with yellow and blue energy.

"Keri! Get down!" I shouted and launched myself at her. I dived into my powers and ripped it out around myself and the girl in a rough cocoon of raw power, not having time to shape it into a real barrier against the explosion of power emanating from where Yotaru stood. I felt a searing heat scoring my back as some of the backlash from Yotaru's powers broke through my shield.

When the blinding storm of power, ended behind me I lay there, sprawled out over my classmate in an undignified heap. I looked up to see Keri's face and took in her huge unseeing eyes and pale face. Shock. Lucky her. I wonder how long it'll be before I go into shock.

Maybe I'm going into shock right now and I don't even realize it? It's possible…

I've never summoned my power like that before. That really hurt. I'll have to remember not to do that again. …. Why is there blood on my hands? …You know I've been injured more this week than I have at any other time during my stint as the barrier.

I wonder how long I've been lying here… rather a while I think. Or maybe it just seems like it…Hey Keri…Oh, she's fainted. Looks like it's just me and me to keep me company…

I glanced around vaguely, not even bothering to move more than my head. Poor trees. They were so pretty. Like the ones in that dream I had with Kurama. Kurama… something else about Kurama… oh bugger. I'm going to actually have to sit down and figure out what to do about him… and how exactly I feel about him…

That's a nice breeze…

… wonder if you're supposed to be able to feel the wind on your spinal cord…

You know what I've just realized? I'm bored. Bored. I'm probably bleeding to death right now, and all I can feel is bored. How sad. Or maybe it's just really funny and my sense of humor is resting. Well… if there's nothing better to do I think I'm going to go to sleep. Why didn't I think of that before?

Pretty Kurama… such lovely green eyes… You're very pretty… now go away and let me sleep…

Stop yelling at me! You're always trying to tell me what I can't do. I can go to sleep if I want.

Wait, who are you? Have I met you before?

You look familiar. Red eyes? I know someone with red eyes… don't I?

That's it! I'd snap if I could move my fingers at the moment. I know who you look like!

You look like that lil' Hiei guy. Just like him, except blue. And female… ok so maybe just like him isn't quite accurate, but a lot like him. Are you his sister? Really, you could be twins. Oh did you just heal me? That was lovely of you.

Kurama why are you all upset. No, I don't wanna go anywhere. I just wanna sleep. No I don't care what you want… I'm going to sleep… yes sleep…

What do you mean I can't go to sleep yet?!

Look here… you're a nice guy…and all…but…I've had a rather… … wait…what was I saying? N'rmind. …going to …. s…l…e..e…p…

Huh, where am I? I cracked my eyes, squinting painfully as the harsh sunlight beat against my eyelids with merciless spiked hammers. Vicious. That's sunlight for you though. I pried my mouth open and unglued my tongue from the top of my mouth. Icky. When I sat up I looked around, noticing how the room looked. Simple, sparse furnishings, a tiny dresser. I was laying on a futon and I was wearing a plain white nightgown.

I wracked my brain trying to figure out where I was and how I had gotten there. Hm, let's see. Fight with Kikyo, argument with Kurama, and meeting with Karasu, appearance of Keri and Yotaru's death. Check. Then what? I can't quite remember… voices, someone blue… Kurama talking to me, yelling… That must be it. Kurama must have found me after the blast and then brought me back here. Keri! I wonder what happened to her?

Huh? What's that noise? Inuyasha? Why is he carrying on this time?

The screen covering the door was wrenched to the side and Inuyasha burst through a second after I finished that thought.

"Kagome! You're finally awake! We were so worried about you!" I found myself in a bone crushing hug, barely able to breath. In fact I had to tug his sleeve to get him to loosen up enough so that I could do so.

"Were we?" I asked him before I realized how stupid that was. "Who were we? I mean, who was worried?"

"We all were. Your family. Shippou was especially upset. And Rin has been coming by to check on you. She's grown quite a bit hasn't she? Oh and that girly red head too." He was still holding my hands as he spoke, and looking at me as if he were afraid I was going to topple over or vanish into thin air. "Are you really alright Kagome? When you returned I smelled your blood. There was so much of it…" I couldn't help it, he looked so much like a lost puppy, I reached up to touch his face and then allowed my hand to reach up and give him a reassuring scratch behind his doggy ears.

"Scared you did I? I'm sorry," I murmured quietly, staring into the golden eyes I hadn't even thought of in decades. I felt a flash of guilt for that realization. It was another reminder that things change. That I had changed. I could never forget my friends, or the events that occurred in the Sengoku Jidai but I could go for surprisingly long stretches without consciously calling those memories to the surface. I briefly wondered if I needed to update the family tree.

Sango and Miroku had been married and had a numerous children. They had even been reincarnated a couple of times so that had started up a whole couple of new family trees along the way for them. Kami but it's hard to keep up with all of them. Miroku is such a lech. I don't know how Sango puts up with having all of those kids. I can barely handle Shippou. It's surprising just how many of them resemble their ancestors, in looks, or personality traits, and especially in the case of their male descendents, perverseness. At any rate, they have so many descendents at this point I wondered why I even bothered to keep track of them all. Morbid curiosity. That's gotta be it.

"So how are you doing?" I asked him, remembering the circumstances of our reunion.

"Well. You're family has been helping me adjust to your time. And I've seen Koenma-sama. Since that Urameshi guy is going to retire from being Spirit Detective soon, he wants me to me to take the job when he does. I'm training to take his place, I like it." he gave a faint smile.

"You're a Spirit Detective now? Why that's wonderful for you Inuyasha! I'm so happy for you!" And I was. That meant he wouldn't have to forget all the skills he had as a fighter and could be useful protecting people. He always was protective, and this job would suit him perfectly. I made a quick calculation in my mind. That also meant there would be fully trained detectives around for back up rather than just keeping one detective until that person died. It also meant that there was something else in store for the current detectives since minions of Spirit World are rarely left alone after they join.

"Kagome…" he hesitated over my name, drawing me out of my musings. He was about to speak when the screen was once again jerked back, this time revealing my diminutive relative.

"Oi, dog boy. You have a mission. Koenma says it's urgent and to hurry."

"It's always urgent," Inuyasha grumbled, rising to his feet.

"Figured that out already have you," Rin watched him with amused eyes.

"Well, we'll talk later ok?" his voice was soft and there was something unreadable in his eyes when he looked at me.

"Sure Inuyasha." He passed by Rin, muttering a brief and general goodbye the room as he walked away.

"Well I see you're finally awake."

"Apparently. Where am I?" I asked, glancing around again.

"Genkai's temple. It's almost a good thing you got hurt, dear. I haven't seen Genkai since Hitler was a corporal," she was smiling when she spoke but I wasn't sure if she was joking or not. With her you can never tell. I was briefly tempted to ask her if she actually had something to do with the World Wars but a glance at her face let me know that she'd never answer me anyways. I smiled and let the comment slide, without taking the bait.

"And where's Shippou?"

"Genkai said that Kurama was taking him somewhere." She waved her hand vaguely, completely unconcerned. I raised my brow at this casual show of trust. When it came to Shippou she was fiercely protective, nearly as extreme as I could be at times.

"So?"

"So what? I blinked, trying to follow what she was talking about. Normally I could, but that was rather vague and random, even for one of us. Or one of us who's not inside the other's head… Ok forget I just thought, whatever it was I was trying to think with that because that didn't even make sense to me.

"So what are you going to do about your choice? You know you still have that mark on your neck. I mean that blast didn't rattle your brains that much right?" Rin rolled her eyes at me. I narrowed my own eyes in response.

"You are a very offensive little woman you know that?" She gave me a cheeky grin.

"Come on! Spill it! Are you going to accept or not?" she demanded, ignoring my insult. Was I? I paused to stare at her as I seriously considered the question.

"Oh do _NOT_ tell me you are still hung up on Inuyasha! I will thwack you if you are!"

"Thwack me huh?" I grinned at the display. She was actually tugging on her braid in annoyance.

"Answer me damn you! You have a centuries old silver kitsune who wants to be your mate, who your son adores, and your family approves of, all of us by the way. Considering Papa's temperament that's saying a lot. You can accept him and be stuck with him. Or you could refuse him and give him up. Either way it'll be forever."

"What do you mean 'it'll be forever'?" I demanded, rubbing the mark in question.

"Meaning it'll be forever. If a youkai tries to mark a woman and she rejects the mark then he can't mark her again. The mark is a binding of souls. If your soul rejects him once then that's what it'll always do. Similarly if you ever died, no matter what form you took you would be bound to him, no matter what. That's what marking is about for youkai They don't just mark their mates. They mark their _soul_ mates."

_Lose Kurama forever?_

"Yeah, I knew that, I just… I don't know Rin. I'm going back to Shippou's den ok? Tell Genkai thanks for me." I dropped my hand.

"I haven't had time to seriously think about it."

"You do that," she purred, straightening from leaning against the door jam.

Rin pinned me with her black almond eyes, she seemed to consider me very carefully. Whatever she was considering she seemed to come to a decision about since she nodded to herself before giving me a brilliant smile. Then she faded into the shadows, disappearing.

I know that look she gave me. I have seen that same smile send the hordes of demons in Mukuro's army all running for cover. I suddenly feel very nervous.

Rin's feeling playful.


	20. Chapter 19

Thanks for all the reviews this last chapter: Arella Hallo, Silverclaws, TearDrop, Star Silver fox, dd, DemonLady1, Moon-n-Universe-Goddess, Defafaeth Mechqua, Rhexi, Serena SilverMoon, Ivan's Kitsune, heLLoissMe,Houndingwolf,ColdFang, Angie, Dark Topaz, Deviant Nature, kagome-angel2000, sashlea, kikitravel, wackoramaco87, bloodbunny, dunken, LLJade, Kurama no Miko2003, Silver Neko

Also a special thanks goes to wackoramaco87 for beta-ing.

And to the reviewer who caught the allusion to Grendal's final words… you get a cookie! Oh that made me so happy, you have no idea!

/…/ Youko's "talking"

… Kurama's "talking"

Kurama's POV

**Chapter 19 **

After I had left Kagome to drop off Inuyasha and pick up the guys we were going to hurry back to Kagome. However there was a major breach in the barrier and demons had begun pouring into the streets of Tokyo. We had to fight them off. I was frantic thinking Kagome was dead if the barrier was falling this much. I don't remember much after my vision went red. I think I went ballistic. I can't remember getting any of my wounds or killing the huge pile of demons that had built up behind me.

I do remember Yusuke punching me to try and snap me out of my murderous haze. I nearly attacked him before what he was saying sank in. He ordered me to get Yukina and go find Kagome while the rest of them held the in flowing demons off. I was torn for a moment until I saw Hiei nod his agreement. He was trusting me to guard his sister while he guarded the humans. I didn't think beyond that. Botan took me to Genkai's temple to get Yukina and then she opened a portal for us into the Makai.

I nearly went insane when I found Kagome, laying on top of that girl, as though she had been shielding her. Her back was torn and bloodied from what I guessed was the blast that had ripped a blackened crater in the ground and reduced the trees to blackened stumps. Yukina ran to heal her and I begged her not to leave me, kept telling her she couldn't go to sleep, that I loved her. At least that's what I was trying to say, I'm not sure how coherent I sounded. I couldn't hear myself clearly past Youko howling in panic and rage in the back of my mind.

"NO DON'T GO TO SLEEP!" I started to panic when her head lolled against my chest.

"Kurama," Yukina was shaking my arm gently to get my attention. I looked up from where I cradled Kagome. "It's alright. Some of her powers responded and amplified my own energy. She's completely healed but she needs to sleep now."

_/She'll be all right?/ So she'll be ours soon right?/ _I could feel Youko's mental ears perk up at that thought. I began to laugh, slightly hysterically from a combination of relief and Youko's predictability in this regard.

"We should hurry back. Even though the barrier is probably fixed now there will still be a lot of demons running loose in the Ningenkai."

"You're right, let's hurry." I picked up Kagome and had Yukina use the communicator to contact Botan who brought us back home. She also picked up the girl who I vaguely recognized as that girl Kagome hung out with at school to take her back to the Spirit Realm. Botan explained that they were going to alter the girl's memories so that she wouldn't remember exactly what happened. Kagome would probably be happy to hear that.

I dropped Yukina and Kagome off at Genkai's and hurried to rejoin the guys. We spent the rest of the day finishing off the demons who had escaped.

That had been nearly a month ago.

She fell asleep and she hasn't woken up since.

When I'm not at school I'm with her. And Shippou. I've been getting to know him really well lately. He's a bright little boy.

_/Of course he is. He's a fox./ _Youko sniffed disdainfully at me.

_Do you ever give a compliment that doesn't vicariously compliment yourself while you're at it?_

_/Not very often, why?/_

_Never mind._

And since we are at the temple, Yukina watches over Kagome during the day while I'm at school, or out with Shippou. Also Rin and Keri, whose name I now know, and even _Inuyasha_ have been visiting frequently.

I'm not sure I like Inuyasha, although I can sympathize with his situation. He has been adjusting surprisingly well to his new life, although I still worry about his mental state at times when he stares at my Kagome. He'd better not think he can make her his replacement. She's mine.

Rin is just… interesting. It's kind of like being around Kagome, if she were hyper and slightly evil. Rin dropped in to say that she was leaving Japan for a week. That she was going off to the darkest America to convert the Christians. She's supposed to be back today. She's an odd one, but we've all grown rather fond of her.

Except for Hiei who has been conspicuously absent since Kagome's people have descended upon the temple. He's been doing border patrolling for Mukuro most of the time, and learning about the paper work involved in being the heir. Too bad for him. He's not around to play chaperone for his twin.

Without big brother breathing down his neck Kuwabara has made some headway with Yukina. She finally realizes that he's interested in her, although she still doesn't seem to know exactly what it is he wants from her. At this rate, he may be able to talk her into dating. She still doesn't know Hiei is her brother, but if she can't find her twin she may just settle down and live a happy life with Kuwabara instead.

Things have settled down in the Makai as well since the major ass kicking of a surprising number of demons at our hands. Also with Inuyasha getting trained to be the next Spirit Detective, Yusuke has been spending more time with Keiko, and improving his grades. I think they're starting to get more serious since he's not always running off on missions. Although this is Yusuke we're talking about; he still somehow always manages to get himself into trouble on a regular basis.

Today I'm taking Shippou to meet Shiori. I've been meaning to for quite some time, but either she was working or we were at school. Just something always coming up on that end. This is the first weekend mother's had off in weeks.

I uneasily wonder if I should have let Shippou have that ice cream before we left…

We reached my house without any problems, so I'm guessing it was alright. We walked in the front door and I called out to my mother. Shippou reassumed his normal form with a small puff. Mom called back from the kitchen and I lead my hopefully son-to-be to meet his hopefully grandmother-to-be.

"Shuichi! I've barely seen you lately! Has Kagome gotten better yet?" she asked, drying her hands on a towel before rushing over to hug me.

_/Cookies!/_

_Mmm, monster cookies!_

_/Quick! Get the chit chat out of the way so we can get to the cookie part!/_

"Shuichi! Are you even listening to me?!"

"Huh? Oh! No Kagome's condition hasn't changed yet," I frown before shaking it off. "But I thought you'd like to meet Shippou so I brought him by to meet you." I nudged Shippou forward. He had looked up shyly at my mother who immediately lowered herself so she could stare into his face.

_/Cookies!/_

_Shhh!_

"Shippou! Kagome's son?! Why she used to talk about you all the time!" She cupped his chin her hands as she took a closer look at him. "You know you look a lot like Shuichi did when he was about you're size! Aren't you a cutie?!" she cooed, doing that googly eyed mother thing over him.

"Yes I am," he responded immediately recognizing her as an easy mark for child charm. He gave her a endearing grin. "I'm modest too!" he then launched herself into her arms, making her laugh in delight. He snuggled down, looking smugly at us.

_He's clever._

_/Definitely a fox./_

I blink before grinning at the scene myself. Mother was off in her own little world, already contemplating how she could best spoil the bundle of charm in her arms. Then she noticed his fluffy tail and she fell completely in love.

_/I wonder if we can use him to get more cookies?/_

_Good idea. Quick while she's distracted with his tail!_ I eased over toward the mouth watering cookies that were perched on the counter.

"Shu-chan I know you're not about to steal one of my cookies! Those are for desert!"

_/Busted!/ _

That's another mother thing. It's like they have radar. Or in this case, cookie-dar. I can only be grateful that no one ever thought to set their mother up guarding anything when I was a thief in the Makai. I would never have been successful.

Mother walked over and handed Shippou to me while she returned the filched cookie to the plate and then searched for that see through wrap stuff she uses to shield her culinary efforts from wayward fingers. Shippou and I shared a look before we both turned to watch the sweets getting snatched from our grasp. Mother noticed the looks and she hesitated before conceding. _Score! _The mother unit caved beneath the combined impact of our 'hungry little boy' looks.

We both grinned at her before happily grabbing a fistful of cookies each. She gave a helpless laugh at our antics. Apparently she decided that a seal of plastic would not be enough though because she proceeded to hide the rest of the cookies in a _cookie jar of protection _7. Then she placed it beyond reach in the _cabinet of doom _over the unassailable _refrigerator of cookie thief rebuffing_. Briefly I wondered what the odds were of getting mom out of the kitchen long enough to snag some more cookies were. By the knowing look she sent me I figured the odds were slim.

Sigh.

Shiori settled us at the table and fixed us some tea while we tried to prolong the existence of the cookies we _had_ managed to get. She settled down with her own cup of tea and smiled at us. I had barely been here since Kagome was hurt. And I had barely seen mom at all. It felt good to be back home.

"Hey people!" a sing song voice interrupted my thoughts and we all looked toward the new person. We all reacted at the same time.

"Rin!" Shippou cried in delight.

"Hey, you're back."

"Oh Rin, it's so good to see you again!"

Rin hugged my Shiori's neck from her she stood behind her. She grinned at us over the top of my mother's head. Mom quickly motioned her to sit down and then hurried to get another cup to pour some more tea. I wonder how Shiori had met Rin. Hm, probably through Kagome. The dark girl plopped down in the seat across from me and grinned at us.

"Thanks Hun. You know Kurama, you're little friend is a very tense sort of fellow. You should tell him to relax a bit."

"Little friend?" I asked. Hiei?

"Uh huh. I ran into that Hiei fellow on my way over here. I don't think I would have startled him as much if he weren't so stiff."

"You saw Hiei?! How's he doing?! Has he used my gift yet?!" Shippou began jumping in his seat as soon as he heard Hiei's name.

"Yes I saw him. He seems to be doing fine, except I think I traumatized the poor soul some more, and no I don't think he has used the stones yet. But don't worry I'm sure he will." Rin answered with a tiny grin.

"So tell me Rin, did they figure out how Kagome was injured? And where Karasu disappeared to?" Shiori asked resuming her seat. Rin stared at her for a second before going into peals of laughter. We all in turn stared at her. Finally she regained her composure enough to tell us about what happened.

"Well actually Kagome would never have even been injured if she hadn't redirected her power to try and shield that Keri girl when she popped up. Oh you don't have to worry about Karasu anymore. We realized he died when he showed up in Hell, along with Kikyo. He's not going to escape again."

"So what happened?" I demanded.

She giggled into her cup before she filled us in.

"Well as it turns out when Karasu escaped from the Reikai he had to merge with a human quickly so they wouldn't catch his escape. So he merged with the first being who had a strong connection with Shikon Jewel. That way he would be connected with someone who would already have a reason for wanting to challenge Kagome. He ended up with Yotaru, who as you know, was Kikyo reborn. Problem for him was he merged with the reincarnation of a miko. When Karasu tried to attack Kagome he was using violent demon energy. Kikyo's dormant energy come to life, and it tried to combat the attacking power Karasu tried to focus on Kagome. Basically the conflicting energy used by the two souls trapped in a contained space of one body created a negative force field."

"Meaning?" mother asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Meaning the miko power didn't agree with the demon power and it caused Yotaru to implode!" Rin went off into a fit of helpless giggles again.

"How stupid! How…"

"Anticlimactic?" I suggested.

Shippou nodded in agreement before joining her. I couldn't help it. As soon as my mind worked around the concept I joined in as well. Soon we were all laughing so hard we were practically crying.

"That's priceless!" Mother gasped. "He's been a major threat for as long as I can remember and he died from a simple miscalculation on his part!"

_/Somehow I can see that./_

_No kidding._

I suddenly froze as an unfamiliar sensation swept through my body. My ki fluctuated wildly in response and I could feel the plants around me respond to the unexpected spike in my energy.

My blood heated and began to burn through my veins. The world darkened at the edges as my focus slid to a single point on the bare white ceiling. Vines that I hadn't summoned, flooded through the window and began to wrap around my body, lifting and tugging, brushing against my sensitized skin. I felt the heat coiling through my stomach and the moisture gather in that secret place between my thighs.

_What the? I don't even HAVE one of those! What the HELL is going on? _

Somewhere in the background I heard Rin addressing me.

"By the way, Kagome woke up. She's at Shippou's Den."

_Kagome's awake?! Then that means?_

_/MINE!/ _Youko howled in my head.

I didn't hear anything else that might have been said. I was already out the door.

_/Faster! She's going to finish without us at this rate!/_

I tripped and crashed into the cement sidewalk when I felt a vine slid along my body, rubbing up against the nub of my pleasure, making me arch my back in pleasure. I pushed myself to my feet.

_/Mineminemineminemine!/_

_Ours! _I smacked Youko down and kept running.


	21. Chapter 20

Ok, to all my wonderful readers I would like to say a very big: I'm SOOO SORRY! I never meant to take this long. I actually started writing this chapter like 5 times but every time I did something happened. It's like this chapter was cursed or something, I swear! I know since it took me so long to write that it can never live up to the original version I began but this is all I could come up with after so long. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find a sword with which to ritualistically kill myself to atone for my pathetic-ness in getting this fic finished. weep

Thank you everyone who kept reading even after it looked like I had given up completely, turst me, you guys are the only reason I bother finishing it up : Dark Topaz, Defafaeth Mechqua, anonymousey226273, Kurana, Talaroh Corvidae, Ivan's Kitsune, A Girl Who Loves Anime, serena SilverMoon, ColdFang, Star Silver fox, sashlea, momoni, Sayuri Hiyamashi, Mirror My Dreams, Arella Hallo, silver starlight kitsune, Silverclaws, Houndingwolf, Hinote Kitsune Nikore, KageNeko-Kouseki, DreamVixen, Fluffy-Maru-Kouga-Chan, lonelygurl12, Elemental Angel Number 4, Shinigami-chan, Animegrl2, HieiAndSess'sBabyGirl, Scarlet, Robin, tyvonna, Lady Meshala, Youka-White-Kitusune, Arbor, anime-lavuh, Goddess Nataku, Mistic UV, ..., Kill-all-flamers210, FOX, Jenny, Youkosfemalefox, chinadoll27, hakkai-my-youkai, Kurama'sFoxyMiko, InuyashaJunky, Queen of Roses, Inu-babe666, sweets427, Romm, YoukoKurama201, Amethyst, bloodbunny, The Black Kat, LLJade, lady scorpio, inuyasha92689, otaku 6547130, StarDust1219, Kurama no Miko2003, S1Cherry, akumariver, Rootbeer , Shiroi Hikari, Silver Shadows, YoukoKurama201, Lady MoonShadow1, king louie, solqua, Reiya Moon, Dragon Master Lytore, , DragonMistress, Atsume, ptbear, Artist formally known as paupet, Mike Rotch, angelkitty77, solqua, Celestral-demon, FoxyiNsOmNiAc, FEMALEINUYASHA, LoupeyLady, SillyNatsumiChan , ScottishFae, Shinigami is back from hell, lil miss crazy, lovingiris, Fanfic Crazy Chibi, Fuji2, Sanura, sm, -, Yami Aya, yukikaza, AW universal, HellzPreditor, kikitravel, ., Shiro Ryu, sakurayamakawa, inuobsessedchic27, nightvixen5000, iowa chic, wolfgurl, yukikaza, Killallflamers210, MichiruAOZ, roseblade, sweets427, ToriChan, lilsis4556, TearsofAenima, Cymarel, TsukiNatsumi, kizuna4me

/…/ Youko's "talking" to Kagome

_Italics_ Kagome thinking/"talking" to Kurama

Kagome's POV

**Chapter 20**

As I saw it there was only one of two choices I could make. I could refuse Kurama and attempt to capture Inuyasha's heart now that Kikyo is permanently out of the picture. Or I could accept, and be forever bound to a silver fox bandit through this life and any after I might have. When I made this decision it would be eternal, whatever I decide.

Eternal huh? I had loved Inuyasha, deeply at one time, but could I honestly say that I was willing to loose Kurama forever? I stared at my serious reflection in the mirror.

Hell no!

I touched the healed mark on my neck with a tiny smile. I realized there wasn't even a decision to be made after all. I wasn't about to let Kurama slip away from me.

Poor guy… he is now stuck with me whether he likes it or not!

Hey! What the-?! EEP! A vine had shot through the window and wrapped around my wrist. Following the one tugging on my arm was whole army of the botanical menaces. I felt my eyes widened as the soft vines poured over me in a vibrant wave of green. I gave a low hum as I realized what was happening. Buds began unfurling along the length of the vines, pretty multicolored flowers that I didn't know by name but recognized as Makai bred. The room suddenly began to seem warm, and I licked my dry lips. Moisture began to gather between my thighs. My head fell back on a quiet moan.

My eyes flew open when I realized what was happening to me. That- that …argh! These flowers are aphrodisiacs! When a soft clingy vine began to slide underneath my shirt I hissed. The flesh of the plant was cool against my flushed skin, and its soft touch sent shivers of anticipation along my spine. Apparently the vine was having trouble figuring out how to remove my top because it suddenly ripped through the thin material of my blouse.

Oh Kurama so owes me! That shirt was forty dollars!

A couple of the vines joined the one that held me immobile, while the rest of the plants set to work on divesting me of the rest of my clothes. I allowed my body to relax, even lifting my hips to help the plant that was tugging at my pants. I hissed, arching my back as it accidentally brushed along my core. I felt the concrete scrape along my hands as I crashed into it, off balance by the unexpected contact.

Wait a minute- concrete? I felt a flash of surprise as I realized that I was also experiencing what was happening to Kurama right at this instant. How… interesting. I ran my tongue across my teeth considering. Oh this had serious possibilities. I grinned evilly.

Being as casual as possible I twisted my arm, trying to slide it through the vine so that I could have a little freedom. Fortunately I hadn't been resisting the vines before so they weren't very tight, and they didn't seem to protest my actions since I didn't seem to be trying to escape. Okay so a low range of movements was being allowed by the plants.

By this time the vines had me completely undressed and were curling around me much like a contented cat would. Turning my head slightly, I allow my nose to dip into a bed of petals and breathe in the fragrant scent. I could only move my arms a little ways, but that was just enough leeway. I shifted my elbows, allowing my hands to brush my sides.

My fingers trailed up, skimming the soft undersides of my breasts. I continued to test the restrictions of my bonds by bringing my hands up higher. I allowed my fingertips to brush against my straining nipples, feeling little electric tingles of pleasure. When I felt myself stumble again I allowed myself to let out a throaty laugh and tugged on the hardened nubs, trying to see if I could break his concentration. My thighs slid together, stroking the heat of my arousal even higher.

The surrounding trees flashed past as I rushed toward me. I felt my cock swell with the attention that I was giving myself and I felt the frustrated curses tumbling from my lips. I almost stumbled again when I felt the sharp tweak of my nipples. My silky hair flashed indecisively between red and silver when it whipped into my field of vision. I narrowed my eyes threateningly when I heard myself laughing. Then my lips twisted into an answering smirk.

I gave a choked moan when I felt my hand rubbing against my erection through the cotton of my slacks. I couldn't move in response because the vines that had been passive now coiled around me. The deep laugh that rumbled through my chest at my response made me hiss in annoyance. I jerked at the vines that held me in place, but they only tightened more. I stared up at my white ceiling as I cleared the line of trees surrounding my house.

The flowers and my own response to the marking demanded that I be mated now. And Kurama was taking too damn long to scramble up the stairs. I writhed on the bed, my body instinctively searching for relief. Ok, so maybe I shouldn't have inhaled purposefully, but I consoled my rebellious body with the thought that if I suffering through this then so would my kitsune.

My eyes slide open when I hear the crash of the door against the wall. I stare at the glittering gold green eyes of my lover. He grabs the knob of the door, and quietly shuts it behind him. Casually he starts to unbutton his shirt as he slowly stalks toward me his grin promising revenge.

Taking your sweet time over there aren't you? I glare up at him dangerously.

My eyes hungrily rake over every exposed inch of his body. Muscles pulling under tautly stretched skin, long slender limbs like honeyed cream. Oh I just want to run my tongue along his body to see if that's what he tastes like. I lick my suddenly dry lips at the mental images that thought conjures.

He merely smiles some more and slides his hand along my inner thigh, pulling back just before he reaches my pulsing core. I cry out in protesting of the evil teasing in response. I allow my head to fall back, arching my body toward him.

I raise my head to try and capture the lips that stay frustratingly out of reach.

He lowers his head, and I eagerly raise my face to his. Before his lips touch mine he changes directions and swoops lower to suck hard on my exposed throat. My hips lift off the mattress slightly in response. His hand slides from the side of my head, along my throat, down, across my exposed breast. He pauses to stroke a nub with his thumb before his hand continues its descent. Lower and lower it goes, until his fingers firmly grip the curve of my hip.

His mouth leaves a molten trail along my neck, along my collarbone. His teeth nip, and his tongue sooths the sharp stings. My lips part and I give a choked cry at the feel of his knee sliding against my heated need. Wantonly I spread my legs wider, hoping compliance will end this torture of waiting.

Now damn you!

"Pleeeaaaaase Kuraaaama! I need-"

Is that my voice? That breathless whimper of need?

I'll get him for this later. Oh yes, I will. But just right now…

With agonizing slowness he begins to fill me, and I feel myself stretching, adjusting around his pulsing length. I also feel myself being engulfed by a slick heat. I watch my face in wonder as my dark hair fans against my pillow, flying back and forth in the throes of passion. My head is tossing, my neck bending back as I try to pull him deeper inside.

My eyes slide open to stare up at him in shock and we both wince at the confusion that results from me watching me while I watch him and him seeing his selves as he's watching me watch myself through him.

Wait- is that right? Never mind. Point being, it's severely disorientating so I close my eyes and again allow myself to get lost in my feelings and his senses. This is probably just as well because he seems to actually have sharper senses than I do anyway.

Lucky me!

My lips curl in a wicked grin as I toss the thought to him, and I feel his answering laugh rumble through his chest and mine, the vibrations sending tingles through my nipples and along my spine. I give a squeak of surprise at the sensation in response and I feel him cocking his head, considering just how much fun he can have with making us both crazy. My nails dig warningly into his back.

"I swear I will open my eyes if you don't start moving soon!" I hiss out, hoping that will distract him from his current train of thought and return him to the more important matters at hand. Namely, finishing what he started. After all, we're mated now, he can play around later.

But I'm not going to stand for anymore games, fox boy! Move it now!

/Such a demanding vixen!/

I hear his voices laughing in my head and I stick my tongue out at him both. I moan again when he draws my tongue into his mouth and sucks on it in response. I am almost distracted from my driving need for a second but it quickly reasserts itself.

I shift my hips to reemphasize my point and I feel him grin against my lips in response. I feel his hair brushing against my shoulders and his strong body cradles against mine as he begins to move inside me once more. Slowly I feel the tidal wave of sensation building, washing over my senses. I no longer see myself through his eyes as his are now closed as well.

My legs hook around his hips, pulling him tighter against me, and we move together. I am vaguely aware of the vines thrashing in response around us and make a mental note in the back of my head to tell Kurama to keep his pets out of the bed while it's otherwise occupied but even that much coherency flees.

A heated glance silences me, and my lover braces his arms beside my head, catching my hand with his. I arch against Kurama, and once again I'm lost in the dual sensation of both taking and being taken.

I feel us both rising to the edge, the force of our arousal stoking each other's higher and feeding our own in an unending cycle of feeling that pushes us past our limits. The fingers of my free hand tangle in his flaming locks, the hand still held by his being almost crushed by his. Suddenly he stiffens, his hips jerking slightly against mine.

At the same instance I give a last shuddering cry of need. Time crystallizes into a single moment and we stare into each others eyes. Then my world explodes in an ultraviolet burst of light, and my body clenches with the impact. I feel the vines tighten around us, as if they're trying to bind us together even more tightly than we already were. That's the last thing I'm aware of before everything goes black.

When I drowsily open my eyes for the second time that day, I am greeted by a completely different sight. This time I wake to my gorgeous mate watching me with his deep green gold eyes. There is a small smug smile tugging at his lips. I smile sleepily back, ignoring the smug bit, and snuggle closer hoping to continue my nap. I know there was something I was thinking while we were making love, but I can't remember it right now. And there was something else too…

Oh yeah!

My eyes pop open again and I raise my head to stare at him. He arches his eyebrow, waiting for me to speak.

"Alabama."

"What?"

"Alabama. You know one of those states over in America." Aha! He obviously wasn't expecting that one!

"Yes I know where Alabama is. What brought that on though?" he asks in complete bafflement.

He looks absolutely adorable when he's confused. Confused and naked, hehehe! Oh well, I guess I better enlighten him.

"I got those absolutely hideous pajamas that you destroyed in Alabama, silly!" Suddenly I'm not tired anymore. Kurama obviously is having trouble following my logic so I help him out the only way I know how. And that's by changing the subject. I sit up and smack him in the face with a pillow.

"Tag!"

I race for the door completely unconcerned with my lack of attire. I am followed by my mate's surprised swearing and I laugh. I have to give him points though for recovering quickly as I hear his light footsteps closing in behind me. I give an undignified squeal when I feel his arms wrap around me from behind. We roll to the floor in a tangle of limbs and Kurama playfully starts tickling me. I try to wriggle away from the devastating attack of his fingers, breathlessly laughing the entire time.

Hehehe, being in a relationship with Kurama is definitely not going to be boring!


	22. Epilogue

And as an added apology I have included this epilogue, so hopefully you'll enjoy (don't kill me!) And I decided what the hell? So I'm adding both of these chapters to 

Rin's POV

**Epilogue**

"Hm, I wonder if Kagome realizes that her emotions color the barrier from this side of the realms?" I sat in the large window seat of my father's office and stared out at the rainbow display going on in the barrier. I couldn't help but grin impishly as a particularly bright flash shot along the solidified Shikon powers that my granddaughter holds in place.

"It's doubtful that she does," golden eyes peered over the edge of the paper in hand before looking back down at the papers on the owner's desk. The High King of All Evil was currently going over the paperwork of the thousands of condemned souls who are currently appealing for their release from Hell. All that bureaucracy stuff, you know. "After all, most demons don't know how to fully see the barrier in the same way that we do, so very few being even see the barrier at all."

"Whatever happened to the day where we could go slaughtering thousands at a time without having to worry about them popping back up asking if they've served enough time to get reborn yet or not?" I asked sympathetically when I saw my father rubbing his temples. He fixed me a droll stare before sliding his chair back and joining me at the window.

"I'm giving them points for stamina. Exactly how long have they been at it?" I munched on my popcorn.

"It's only been a few hours. And considering that he's a fox it's not that impressive yet," the inu-youkai responded with his usual bored look.

"But she's a human, all training and powers aside. And anyways, aside from the occasional short rest here and there they haven't really shown any signs of stopping anytime soon. I'm glad she's happy though. Don't you think its fabulous Papa?" I smile over at him.

"At least her taste has improved. I'd hate to think that the best she could do is my worthless brother. Speaking of taste, exactly when are you going to find a mate of your own?" he fixed me with a demanding glare.

"Hey! I was mated before! You can't call me on that one!"

"Considering that you killed him after only a couple of months of being together, I'm not sure he should actually count as a mate."

"Hey, I didn't kill him! He died accidentally… of natural causes!"

_That's my story and I'm sticking to it, so there!_

"You stabbed him," my beloved father pointed out in what I'm sure he thought was a reasonable tone.

"My knife slipped," I responded before shoving some more popcorn in my mouth. Ooooh! I wonder what Kurama did to Kagome that prompted a response like _that_?!

"Seventy eight times?"

_Lalala__! I'm not listening! Oh that reminds me…_

"Hey it's after seven in the Ningenkai right? I should go pick up Shippou! I left him with Shiori, so they could get to know each other but I was going to take him with me when I go back to Muki's fortress."

"I'm sure Mukuro will be thrilled to see you both. And don't think I didn't notice you changing the subject on me," my father announced in his most disdainful voice. Heh, nothing gets past the great Sesshomaru!

"Gotta go!" I grin and allow myself to fall backward into my own shadow.

"Brat! I wasn't _finis_-" My beloved father's words fade behind me as I become swallowed by the shadow.


End file.
